James J. Mulva
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
ConocoPhillips
600 North Dairy Ashford (77079-1175)
P.O. Box 2197
Houston, TX 77252-2197
Fax: 281.293.5555
Dear Mr. Mulva –
Upon news of ConocoPhillips’ agreement to acquire Burlington Resources, we are writing to inform your company of several controversial issues that have plagued Burlington in their South American operations. We are encouraged by ConocoPhillips’ commitment to environmental sustainability, human rights, and corporate responsibility, and are eager to dialogue with your company on these issues in the coming months.
Burlington is involved, both as a minority consortium partner and as a sole owner and operator, of several oil blocks in the remote, pristine rainforests of southern Ecuador and northern Peru. These blocks fall entirely on the indigenous territories of the Shuar, Achuar and Kichwa peoples – the overwhelming majority of whom have repeatedly vowed to prohibit all oil, mining, and logging in their territories.
In Ecuador, Burlington’s operations have been paralyzed for over five years due to this opposition, including a declaration of force majuere, an investigation by Ecuador’s Civic Anti-Corruption Commission, and have been the subject of an ongoing case before the Inter-American Human Rights Court of the Organization of American States over human rights abuses inflicted on community members by Burlington’s consortium partner and the Ecuadorian military.
While Burlington claims they have made advances with local communities, the project, which has failed to get off the ground since ARCO was first awarded the contract in 1998, continues to be mired in controversy, has received significant media exposure and provoked concern of Burlington shareholders.
We have included an information package on the above mentioned issues, including news articles, statements from local indigenous federations, video documentation, and two pending shareholder resolutions for 2006 brought by New York City Pension Funds, the Brethren Benefit Trust, and several other shareholders.
As you may recall, when faced with opposition of the indigenous Huaorani people and international concern over the environmental implications of oil extraction slated for the rare and fragile rainforests surrounding Ecuador’s Yasuni national park in the early 1990s, Conoco was applauded for its decision to pull out of the project.
It is our hope that ConocoPhillips will demonstrate its leadership and dedication to environmental and social responsibility, as well as smart business, by re-examining its new oil concessions in Ecuador and Peru.
We look forward to hearing from you on these important issues.
Sincerely,
Atossa Soltani
Executive Director
Kevin Koenig
Northern Amazon Programs Coordinator
