From johnseed1@ozemail.com.au Sun Oct 14 07:22:23 2001 Received: from ghost2.onet ([192.168.192.76]:49204 "EHLO ghost2.onet") by priv.onet.pl with ESMTP id ; Sun, 14 Oct 2001 08:17:18 +0200 Received: from mta05.mail.au.uu.net ([203.2.192.85]:13710 "EHLO mta05.mail.mel.aone.net.au") by ghost2.onet.pl with ESMTP id ; Sun, 14 Oct 2001 08:17:09 +0200 Received: from johnseed ([210.84.107.236]) by mta05.mail.mel.aone.net.au with SMTP id <20011014061703.VMGD2135.mta05.mail.mel.aone.net.au@johnseed>; Sun, 14 Oct 2001 16:17:03 +1000 Message-ID: <00fc01c15478$437da140$9e31fea9@johnseed> From: "John Seed, Rainforest Information Centre" To: Subject: Warsaw actions against WestLB for financing rainforest destruction Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 15:22:23 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Status: RO X-Status: F Dear Janusz and other Polish friends, I wonder if you could help me with a very important matter? We're looking for organisations and individuals in Warsaw who could help us in an international day of action to protect the Ecuadorian rainforests. Please forward this email to anyone you know who might help us (especially groups opposing rainforest destruction and the depredations of global financial institutions). I think its self-explanatory I am also appending a sample letter which anyone can email to WestLB, the bank funding this project. Please paste this into a "New Mail" message, add your signature and send it to them. Please email this to your friends and colleagues and ask if they will do the same. We're trying everything we can to stop the OCP oil pipeline from being built from the Ecuadorian Amazon over the Andes and to the coast. If it is completed, it will DOUBLE the amount of oil that can be removed from the Amazon headwaters and this will impact on numerous national parks, nature reserves and indigenous communities. There's comprehensive information about the issue at www.amazonwatch.org We are presently co-ordinating an international action against WestLB, the German Bank who plan to fund the pipeline to the tune of about a billion dollars. We propose to do these actions on October 24. We will do an action that day outside their Sydney office and will encourage people to do the same at their offices in many other countries. So I am writing you to see if you might be able to help us find people to organise and show up at a demonstration outside their offices in Warsaw? If you know of anyone who might participate, please send me their email address or forward this email to them. We will be organising something theatrical in Sydney , a media stunt in the street with puppets and drums and people occupying their offices upstairs. However, in some places, people may just want to raise consciousness about the issue by sending press releases, fact sheets and action alerts that ask people to phone, or fax the WestLB office on that day protesting their involvement in the pipeline. WestLB have offices in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech, Dubai, France, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Japan, Luxemburg, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, UK, US, Uruguay and Venezuela So far we have confirmations of actions from Sydney (FOE), Los Angeles (Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch), San Francisco (RAN), Hamburg (Rettet den Regenwald), Zurich (Bruno Manser Fonds) and Amsterdam (FOE) POLAND Westdeutsche Landesbank Polska S.A. ul. Emilii Plater 28 00-688 Warsaw Phone: ++48-22-65 30-500 Fax: ++48-22-65 30-501 Contact: Aneta Szymanska Phone: ++48-22-653-0624 Fax: ++48-22-653-0641 E-mail: westlb@westlb.pl for the Earth John Seed Rainforest Information Centre Box 368 Lismore 2480 Australia johnseed1@ozemail.com.au www.forests.org/ric/ www.rainforestjukebox.org 61 (0)2 66213294 Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), the largest publicly owned bank in Germany, has confirmed that it is providing a $900 million loan to the OCP Pipeline consortium. The following sample letter is to urge WestLB and its major shareholders to immediately suspend the disbursement of this loan. PLEASE CALL, EMAIL OR WRITE TODAY! Contact information is listed below this sample letter. YOUR ACTION IS IMPORTANT! SAMPLE LETTER TO WESTDEUTSCHE LANDESBANK AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERAL STATE OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY: To send the letter by e-mail you can copy the following e-mail addresses into the e-mail header: presse@westlb.de, wolfgang.clement@landtag.nrw.de, poststelle@mwmev.nrw.de, info@rsgv.de, thomas_friebel@westlb.com, Robert_Edmonds@westlb.com, Mark_Worley@westlb.com To the CEO of Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), Mr. Jürgen Sengera Minister President of the Federal State of NRW, Mr. Wolfgang Clement Minister of Economy of the Federal State of NRW, Mr. Ernst Schwanhold Federation of Rhenisch Savings and Clearings Banks, Mr. Dr. Karlheinz Bentele Representative offices of WestLB in the US Dear Sirs, I am writing to invite you to make a personal visit to the cities, villages, communities and protected ecosystems along the route of the new heavy crude oil pipeline OCP and to the pristine rainforests in the Amazon region in Ecuador where the oil will be extracted, to prevent a social, economical and environmental tragedy. I object that you are financing the OCP project without ever having consulted the population effected by the project, and without ever having visited the region which is in grave danger due to this project. It is totally unacceptable that the public bank WestLB and the government of the Federal State of NRW decide from their offices in Germany - far away from the project area in Ecuador - about a US$900 million project with such severe social, economic and environmental effects on the basis of two environmental impact assessments which have been paid for by the companies that will benefit from the project. It is a travesty of justice that WestLB and the government of NRW want to finance a project that would never be approved in Germany because of its uncontrollable danger to the life of the population and its catastrophic effects on environment. The population effected by the project has never been consulted about this project. The already existing SOTE pipeline (to which the OCP will run parallel through most of its route) is in an earthquake zone and has ruptured on 48 occasions causing the death of 30 people and spilling 74 million liters of crude oil into rivers, forests and farmland. I urge you to immediately end all loan disbursement to the OCP project and stop financing oil exploration and production in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Sincerely, [Date, your name and address] 1.) WestLB Mr. Juergen Sengera Head of Executive Board Herzogstr. 15, 40217 Duesseldorf Germany Phone: 0049 - 211 - 826 2210 or 0049 - 211 - 826 3072 Fax: 0049 - 211 - 826 6121 E-Mail: presse@westlb.de 2.) Prime Minister of Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia Mr. Wolfgang Clement Stadttor 1 40213 Duesseldorf Germany Phone: 0049 - 211 - 837-1200 or 0049 - 211 - 837-1201 Fax: 0049 - 211 - 837- 1562 E-Mail: wolfgang.clement@landtag.nrw.de 3.) Minister of Economy of Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia Mr. Ernst Schwanhold Haroldstr. 4 40213 Duesseldorf Germany Phone: 0049 - 211 - 837 - 02 Fax: 0049 - 211 - 837 - 2200 E-Mail: poststelle@mwmev.nrw.de 4.) Federation of Rhenisch Savings and Clearings Banks (Rheinischer Sparkassen- und Giroverband) President of Executive Board Mr. Dr. Karlheinz Bentele Kirchfeldstr. 60 40217 Duesseldorf Germany Phone: 0049 - 211 - 3892-01 Fax: 0049 - 211 - 3892-240 E-mail: info@rsgv.de WESTLB OFFICES WORLDWIDE EMAIL LIST presse@westlb.de, guenter_richert@westlb.com.au, beal@westlb.com.br, Walder_Bastos@westlb.com.br, Alik_Kassner@westlb.com, andrew_kinloch@westlb.co.jp, Jasper_Leung@westlb.com.sg, repre@westlb.cz, westlb@emirates.net.ae, Bernhard_Lorenz@westlb.fr, veena_mankar@westlb.co.uk, westlb@dnet.net.id, info@westlb.lu, westlb@df1.telmex.net.mx, Robert_Bruning@westlb.be, westlb@westlb.pl, Volker_Undorf@westlb.com.ru, Alexander_Afanasiev@westlb.com.ru, Sigrid_Janetzko@westlb.com.ru, Alexander_Chibanov@westlb.com.ru, Vadim_Udalov@westlb.com.ru, Mike_Winn@westlb.com.ru, Airey@westlb.spb.ru, Airey@westlb.nnov.ru, matthew_tan@westlb.com.sg, westlb@icon.co.za, berto_nuvoloni@westlb.de, vawestlb@hitel.net, silawm@asianet.co.th, derick_chan@westlb.co.jp, Dilek_Kinli@westlb.com.tr, bernd_gliemann@westlb.co.uk, westlbki@ukrpack.net, Jonathan_King@westlb.co.uk, margrith_lutschg@westlb.co.uk, ulrich_zierke@westlb.co.uk, john_godfrey@westlb.co.uk, thomas_friebel@westlb.com, manfred_knoll@westlb.com, Mark_Worley@westlb.com, Robert_Edmonds@westlb.com, eduardo_brande@westlb.com.uy, wolfgang.clement@landtag.nrw.de, poststelle@mwmev.nrw.de, info@rsgv.de For Immediate Release: October 11, 2001 Women and Children Begin Blockades of Pipeline Construction Crews in Threatened Ecuadorian Cloud Forest Reserve Digital photos and background info available upon request or later today at www.amazonwatch.org (Guarumos, Ecuador) --- Early this morning, dozens of women - many accompanied by their children - arrived in the Mindo Nambillo Cloud Forest Reserve and began peacefully blockading construction machinery belonging to the company Techint, a member of the OCP Consortium in charge of building Ecuador's new heavy crude pipeline. The protest aims to stop the clearing of the pipeline route which began last week through this protected area. As of 4 pm EST, an estimated 40 people were reportedly participating in the blockade; many of them from local communities affected by the pipeline. "The blockade has virtually stopped the crews from destroying this globally significant cloud forest reserve," according to environmental group Acción Ecológica who says that local activists and residents will be maintaining a resistance camp in Los Guarumos region on the Non-Tandapaya Road, approximately 2 hour drive from Quito. Opposition to the construction of Ecuador's new Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP) has captured international headlines especially in Germany, where activists have been pressuring Germany's largest public bank, Westdeustche Landesbank (WestLB) to pull out of the $900 million financing package it is arranging for the project. The pipeline consortium includes Alberta Energy, Repsol-YPF, AGIP, Perez-Companc, Kerr-McGee and the Los Angeles based Occidental Petroleum, already the subject of protest campaigns for their controversial oil projects in Colombia. For many months, environmentalists had sought to change the pipeline route around this internationally recognized eco-tourism destination to no avail. Groups are opposed to the construction of the pipeline given that the route directly impacts 11 protected areas and will lead to the doubling of oil production from National Parks and other protected areas in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Groups also cite ongoing environmental and public health problems with pipeline spills in Ecuador. In May, the country's existing pipeline ruptured due to a landslide, spilling 7,000 barrels of oil. This accident was the 14th major oil spill since 1998. The Mindo area includes steep and unstable slopes where there is a high risk of oil spills. The Mindo inhabitants want to focus international attention on their stance in defense of endangered species and globally important ecosystems. They urge U.S. energy users to support a more rapid transition to clean energy alternatives given that half of the oil from the OCP pipeline will be destined for West Coast US markets. Press: Contacts: In US, Janet Lloyd, Amazon Watch: 310-455-0617 In Ecuador, Alexandra Almeida, Acción Ecológica 011 593 22 547-516 or 527-583