The president of
the Dallas-based Maxus
Energy Corporation, Roberto
Monti, got an unexpected
bouquet of rose flowers
while addressing the recent
Inter-American Petroleum
and Gas Conference in the
us. Only the roses, presented
by the Rainforest Action
Network (RAN) activists, a
group which works to
protect rainforests worldwide and also supports
the rights of its inhabitants,
were drenched in oil; a sign
of protest to convey
Maxus' destruction of the
Ecuadorian rainforests.
Maxus got its approval in
1991 to operate in an area
classified as Block 16 situated
perilously inside Ecuador's
ecologically fragile Yasun
National Park, which is also
home 'to the indigenous
Fluaorani tribe. While it had
pledged to*carry out the
project under environmentally sound conditions, the
present evidence indicates
otherwise. Several oil spills
have already taken place in
the Park accompanied by the
deforestation of nearly
21,060 ha. Further, the oil
and other toxic fluids have
found their way into the
park's waterways allege the
members of organisations
like CEDENMA, a coalition of
over a dozen environmental
organisations in Ecuador,
CONFLNAIE, the regional
Amazon Indian federation
and RAN. Maxus is now being
urged to part with its environmental records on the
Ecuador project and submit
to a full environmental audit.
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