Tag: petro-resistance

The Andes

Bolivia hosts ‘Gas OPEC’ summit —amid dissension

The summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) opened in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz—central hub of the country's hydrocarbon-rich eastern lowlands. President Evo Morales took the opportunity to boast of his "nationalization" of Bolivia's hydrocarbon resources. But in addition to pressure from his populist base for greater state control over the hydrocarbons, Morales faces ecologist and indigenist dissidents who reject continued reliance on an extractivist model altogether.

The Amazon

Peru: indigenous resistance defeats oil contract

Peruvian authorities turned down a bid to renew Frontera Energy's oil contract for Bloc 192 in the upper Amazon after the oilfield was occupied by indigenous protesters, prompting the Canadian company to declare force majeure. Local communities launched the occupation to demand that they be consulted before a decision was made on renewing the contract.

Planet Watch

San Francisco sues fossil fuel companies

San Francisco filed a lawsuit against five fossil fuel companies due to expected expenses the city will incur from global warming. The companies named in the suit are BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell—chosen because they are "the largest investor-owned fossil fuel corporations in the world as measured by their historic production of fossil fuels."

The Andes

Peru: pending law threatens indigenous lands

Indigenous rights advocates in Peru are protesting a law being prepared by the administration of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski that would allow the government to abrogate the land titles of indigenous and peasant communities for development projects that are deemed "high-priority." Peru's alliance of Amazonian peoples, AIDESEP, is dubbing Law 1718 the "Law of Dispossession," and calling on Congress to reject it.

The Andes

Colombia: government seeks to restrict ‘consultas’

Community leaders throughout Colombia have spoken out against a proposal by the central government to limit the power of consultas populares, or popular referenda, to bar oil and mineral projects at the municipal level. Some are questioning the constitutionality of the government's plan to "fast track" a sweeping reform of the Organic Law of Territorial Ordering (LOOT) that would strip municipalities of the ability to restrict subsoil exploitation.

Planet Watch

Control of oil at issue in NAFTA re-negotiation

As "NAFTA 2.0" negotiations open, a provision that essentially locks in Canada's current levels of oil exports to the US is drawing opposition from unlikely allies across the Canadian political spectrum but winning staunch support in the country's petroleum industry.

Planet Watch

Victory for Inuit sea rights in Canadian high court

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously in favor of the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut, which has for the past three years fought to stop seismic testing in their Arctic waters. The Court found that the Inuit were not properly consulted on the oil exploration project off Baffin Island. The decision nullified a seismic testing permit issued by the National Energy Board.

North America

New pipeline showdown brews in New Jersey

The Ramapough Lunaape tribe in Mahwah, NJ, is protesting the proposed Pilgrim Pipeline that would carry shale oil down the Hudson Valley through their lands.