Tuesday, May 26th 2009  11:00am
San Francisco, CA

WHAT: Press Conference to Release
“The True Cost of Chevron: an Alternative Annual Report.”
The most comprehensive exposé of Chevron ever compiled.

Embargoed until May 26-Advance copy available by request in pdf or hardcopy.

VISUALS: Large ChevWrong “Inhumane Energy Ads” spoofing Chevron’s Human Energy Ad Campaign

WHEN & WHERE: Tuesday, May 26, 2009
11:00am – Noon
Rainforest Action Network Press Room
6th Floor 221 Pine St
San Francisco, CA 94104

WHO: Antonia Juhasz, report lead author and editor; with representatives of Chevron-effected communities from across the U.S. and the world discussing the latest developments in Chevron’s potential $27 billion liability in Ecuador, recent violence in Nigeria, and Chevron’s operations in Kazakhstan, Alberta, Burma, California, Iraq, and elsewhere.

San Francisco –
Think you know Chevron? Think again.

In advance of Chevron’s May 27 Annual Shareholder Meeting, “The True Cost of Chevron: an Alternative Annual Report” will be released by an unprecedented coalition of those directly affected by Chevron’s operations, political control, consumer abuse, and false promises. Report authors will then use proxies to enter Chevron on May 27 to discuss the report directly with shareholders while a protest/rally is held at Chevron’s front gates.

As public outrage against corporate-malfeasance intensifies, The True Cost of Chevron provides shareholders with the most comprehensive exposé of Chevron’s operations – and the communities in struggle against them – ever compiled. It includes reports from Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, the Gulf Coast, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Washington, D.C, and Wyoming; internationally across Angola, Burma, Canada, Chad, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, and the Philippines.

Chevron’s 2008 annual report is a glossy celebration of the company’s most profitable year in its history and one in which CEO David O’Reilly became the 15th highest paid U.S. chief executive, with nearly $50 million in total 2008 compensation. What Chevron’s annual report does not tell its shareholders is the true cost paid for those financial returns, or the global movement gaining voice and strength against Chevron’s abuses.

This groundbreaking 44-page report—including photographs and ChevWrong “Inhumane Energy Ads”—details numerous active lawsuits against the company from across the country and around the world, with potential liabilities in excess of Chevron’s total revenue from 2008 and posing a material threat to shareholder value and the company’s bottom line. As the report explains, “when a company operates in blatant disregard for the health, security, livelihood, safety, and environment of communities within which it operates, there can be real financial repercussions.”

The report also details Chevron’s “torture lawyer,” William J. Haynes; its “Oil Man in the White House,” General James L. Jones; its scandal at the Department of Interior involving “sex, bribes, and paintball;” Chevron’s coal and chemical companies; its “hype on alternative energy,” and how it squeezes both “consumers at the pump” and Californians out of billions in vital tax dollars.

The report concludes with six specific obligations demanded of Chevron and leaves shareholders with this message: “Chevron is right. The world will continue to use oil as it transitions to a sustainable green renewable energy economy. Whether Chevron will be in business as we make the transition depends upon what sort of company it chooses to be and whether the public is willing to support it.

Location:
Rainforest Action Network Press Room 6th Floor
221 Pine Street
San Francisco, CA
94104

Contact:

Nick Magel
nick@amazonwatch.org
419-283-2728

Sponsored By:
Amazon Watch, Crude Accountability, Global Exchange, Justice in Nigeria Now, Rainforest Action Network, CorpWatch, Filipino-American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Trustees for Alaska, Communities for a Better Environment, Mpalabanda, Richmond Progressive Alliance, EarthRights International, and others.