> Published on Friday, June 30, 2000 in the Washington Times [via
> http://www.commondreams.org ]
>
> Gore Resists Calls To Halt Oil Drilling in Colombia
> by Bill Sammon
>
> Vice President Al Gore, who controls at least $500,000 worth of stock in
> Occidental Petroleum, has ignored pleas from environmentalists to fight the
> company's plan to drill for oil on sacred Indian land in Colombia.
>
> The Gore family stands to benefit substantially if Occidental finds the 1.5
> billion barrels of oil it estimates are buried beneath the pristine forest
> inhabited for centuries by the U'wa Indians.
>
> The 5,000-member tribe is threatening mass suicide if Occidental goes
> forward with drilling.
>
> But the Clinton-Gore administration is pushing more than $1 billion of aid
> to Colombia that Occidental says will help protect its oil interests. The
> money will be used in part to fight guerrillas who have often attacked the
> company's pipeline, spilling more crude than the Exxon Valdez.
>
> Gore supporters inside and outside the administration are pushing hard for
> the Occidental project.
>
> Scott Pastrick, the former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee
> who in 1996 prepared "call sheets" for the vice president's use in
> fund-raising solicitations, was hired the next year by Occidental to
> promote the project.
>
> The Clinton-Gore administration, in turn, hired a former Occidental
> lobbyist who was pressing the Energy Department to back the drilling.
> Lobbyist Theresa Fariello was hired last year by Energy Secretary Bill
> Richardson.
>
> "There has been a lot of back-room negotiations between the Clinton
> administration and the Colombian government on behalf of Occidental," said
> environmentalist Stephen Kretzmann of Amazon Watch. "Occidental is a
> favorite of the Clinton-Gore administration, particularly Gore."
>
> In recent weeks, violence has escalated between the Colombian military and
> U'wa Indians who have been blockading a road to the Occidental drilling
> site. U.S. and Colombian environmentalists are growing more frustrated at
> what they consider the willful inaction of Mr. Gore.
>
> "You have an imminent, unfolding, tragic situation in Colombia being
> perpetrated by a corporation with direct ties to the vice president and he
> won't do a . . . thing," Mr. Kretzmann said. "He has remained silent, and
> he hasn't pulled his money out."
>
> Environmentalists are particularly appalled by the vice president's recent
> campaign to link George W. Bush with skyrocketing gasoline prices by
> portraying him as a puppet of Big Oil.
>
> "It takes somebody who is independent from Big Oil to take on Big Oil, and
> I'm independent from them," the vice president thundered Wednesday.
>
> But Mr. Gore controls between $500,000 and $1 million worth of stock in
> Occidental.
>
> "Mr. Gore cannot pretend to be any better than Bush when his hands have the
> blood of the U'wa on them," said Sharon Wright of the Rainforest Action
> Network.
>
> Gore spokesman James Kennedy said the standoff in Colombia "is an internal
> domestic matter and the United States does not have the unilateral
> authority to intervene in it." Asked why the vice president doesn't use his
> bully pulpit as a presidential candidate to articulate a moral stance on
> the controversy, Mr. Kennedy said: "I'll just leave it at that."
>
> Although Mr. Gore lists Occidental on his financial disclosure forms, his
> aides insist he does not control the shares because they belong to a trust
> for his mother, Pauline.
>
> But according to the last will and testament of Mr. Gore's father, Albert
> Gore Sr., the vice president - as executor of the [Gore] estate - is vested
> with the same control as Pauline Gore, who is named in the will as trustee.
>
> "The executor shall at all times during the administration of my estate be
> vested with all the powers, duties and authority of the trustee," the elder
> Gore wrote,"and shall be authorized to make payments in the same manner and
> to the same extent as if he were acting as testamentary trustee."
>
> Thursday night, a Gore spokeswoman said: "The intent of the language is to
> ensure that the executor can distribute income before the trust is set up.
> But once the trust is set up, only the trustee has the authority to make
> the decisions regarding the trust."
>
> Asked to reconcile this with the will's stipulation that the vice president
> retains full authority "at all times" Gore spokesman Kennedy said: "I'm
> not a lawyer. And when laymen try to interpret the law, they usually screw
> up."
>
> He added: "The vice president does not have stock in Occidental and does
> not benefit from any stock in Occidental."
>
> But the elder Gore stipulated in his will: "Upon the death of my wife, the
> trust shall terminate and all the assets thereof shall be distributed
> absolutely to my son."
>
> Mr. Kennedy added: "If any are left. So it's entirely speculative and
> inappropriate to suggest that he will in fact ever benefit. Because No. 1,
> it is not known whether any funds will be left at that time. And No. 2, it
> is not known if that stock will still be in the trust" then.
>
> Occidental Vice President Lawrence Meriage defended his company's plans,
> saying the oil is vital to the impoverished nation, which will get 85
> percent of the revenue. He added that the Colombian government last year
> tripled the size of the U'wa reservation to 850 square miles, with the
> drill site outside the reservation.
>
> "You know, it gets down to a question here of whether you have a
> democratically elected government that should be able to set policy for 40
> million Colombians or having a bunch of noisy activists in the U.S. trying
> to dictate to the Colombian government," he said.
>
> Mr. Meriage, who testified before Congress in favor of the $1 billion aid
> package to Colombia, said the drilling will go ahead.
>
> "There is a potential here of a billion barrels of oil," he said. "Whether
> it's Occidental . . . or somebody else that controls this project, it's
> going to go forward."