Should We Pay for Unused Oil?

Posted on July 23, 2007
Tag(s): Energy
Email this

Ecuador’s President has an unusual plan to preserve the environment and help ease the poverty in his nation by having wealthy nations pay for oil that Ecuador will leave underground in rainforests. To drill for oil in the rainforest, home to endangered white bellied spider monkeys and rare jaguars, would wreak havoc on the environment. As it is, a group of indigenous people have filed a $6 billion lawsuit against U.S. based Chevron for polluting a large area of the Ecuadorean Amazon.

They are seeking $350 million a year, half of what they would expect in annual revenues if they extracted and sold that oil. That seems like a fair price to me to help two needy causes: the poor and the environment.

Source: Cnn