hello all,

i found this on NEOORN-L and am forwarding it to you. please make
your voices heard in the growing chorus of protests!

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Life is better when you are reading a good book -- Author Tim Green



---------- Forwarded message ----------


Dear Friend:

A consortium of multinational companies led by Occidental Petroleum,
Alberta Energy and Chase Manhattan Bank is proposing to build an oil
pipeline through pristine cloud forests in northwestern Ecuador. This
project would destroy unique habitat that harbors over 450 species of birds
(5% of the world's total), imperil a host of endangered plants and animals
and undermine the livelihoods of local residents dependent on ecotourism.

Please help us by sending the message found below to the corporations
involved. Acting on this should take no more than 2-3 minutes. Two routes
have been proposed and approved by the Ecuadorian government to pump heavy
crude oil from the Amazon to Ecuador's Pacific coast. The so-called
Northern route is proposed by OCP Ltd., a multinational consortium
including Occidental Petroleum (US), Kerr-McGee Energy (US), Agip Oil
(Italy), Alberta Energy Corporation (Canada), Repsol-YPF (Spain/Argentina)
and Techint (Argentina). Chase Manhattan Corporation (US) is providing
financing.

We recognize that Ecuador needs the revenues that the proposed oil pipeline
will generate, but this is not a case of having to choose between the
environment and economic development. The government has also approved a
southern route, which follows the path of an existing pipeline and passes
primarily through previously deforested areas, thus causing far less
environmental impact. We are urging the companies involved to choose the
route that causes the
least damage.

Please help save the forests by sending a message to the companies involved=
:
(1) Open a new blank message
(2) Copy and paste the following addresses in the "To" box
todd.maclin at chase.com, brian.oneill at chase.com, BrianFerguson at aec.ca,
Jbaezal at repsol-ypf.com, webmaster at kmg.com, agippetroli at agippetroli.eni.it,
jlt at tearg.com.ar, +Los_Angeles-Communications at oxy.com, pipeline at ecnet.ec
(3) Copy and paste the message text that follows at the end, or your own
comments
(4) Send
(5) PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE TO OTHER PEOPLE (to avoid lots of arrows
in messages that are forwarded repeatedly we suggest that you copy and
paste the text instead of just hitting "forward").

Thank you for your help and please contact us at pipeline at ecnet.ec for more
information or if you have suggestions of other ways you may be able to hel=
p.

COMIT=C9 PRO RUTA DE MENOR IMPACTO
(Committee for the Route of Least Impact)

Suggested Text for Message for Cutting and Pasting Follows

I am writing to express my profound concern regarding your proposal to
build and operate an oil pipeline cutting across pristine rain forest areas
in northwestern Ecuador. While many multinational businesses are moving to
actively demonstrate their corporate environmental leadership, the oil
pipeline that you propose to build in Ecuador is a major step in the
opposite direction.

As you are aware, the Ecuadorian government has authorized two routes for
the new Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline. OCP Ltd. has proposed a northern route,
with a 157 km deviation to go around Quito. This route will pass through
kilometers of natural areas that are being preserved by the government,
such as the Mindo-Nambillo Protected Forest, and by private organizations
in the upper portion of the Guayllabamba River watershed. The area forms
part of the Choco Endemic Region, considered one of the most biologically
diverse areas in the world. In addition, it harbors the first "Important
Bird Area" (IBA) in South America. The Mindo IBA supports over 450 bird
species, or almost 5% of the world's bird species. In the last decade, a
flourishing ecotourism industry has developed in this area, drawing
visitors from around the world and providing long-term livelihoods for many
local residents.

The alternative southern route would have far less impact since it mostly
follows the existing pipeline (SOTE) and detours around Quito (57 km)
through primarily agricultural lands with far less forest than the northern
route.

Although much can be done to reduce impacts in pipeline construction and
operation, the area that will be affected by your proposal is both
biologically unique and enormously fragile. The actions to date, carried
out by Techint, the contractor for pipeline construction, have done nothing
to encourage confidence. They have trespassed on public reserves and
private lands and cleared forests to conduct preliminary surveys without
permission. Under these conditions and with these precedents, severe and
irreversible impacts are almost assured. The only way to avoid these
impacts is by choosing a route that foresees and prevents these impacts
from the start; the northern route clearly does not take into account these
environmental considerations.

There is still time to change the route of the pipeline. I urge you to act
quickly and decisively to make sure that this project does not tarnish your
environmental record, and more importantly, does not cause of destruction
of montane forest habitats of global conservation significance.

A new pipeline is important for the economic development of Ecuador, but
the same objectives can be met with far less environmental damage if the
right route is chosen and proper safeguards established from the very outse=
t.