Here We Go Again

I didn't think I'd be following up on the story of the Chevron oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro State so soon (the first blogpost, The Language of Oil Spills, was published last December 19th) but here we are. I can't help it, the story is just too juicy, and too much in my face, considering it's directly off my coast. You see, there's been a second "spill incident," as Chevron likes to call these things, this after Chevron had been prohibited from further perforations of the sea bed. And as if relations between Chevron and the Brazilian government weren't already badly strained, once again Chevron was slow to announce the leak. In fact, ten days after the leak was first announced Brazil's authorities were still in the dark. Was this a new leak? Or continued leaking from the first fissure? Did Chevron's containment cement crack? Or were they still drilling where and when they shouldn't have been? Fingers are pointing, accusations are flying, and last week Chevron abruptly announced "temporary" suspension of oil production from that offshore well.

This is one gallon . . .

Chevron claims that this second leak was just five liters (1.32 gallons). The Brazilian Navy, overflying the area, says it's a lot bigger than that. But for the Brazilian government, the amount of oil spilled is not what's important. What's important is the problem of recurrence, the disrespect of prior orders to stop drilling, the lack of clear information from Chevron and the fact that the company had not taken the necessary steps after the first spill to avoid this second one. Chevron was already facing (and appealing) a fine of $100 million for its role in last November's spill. In a newfound spirit of toughness, Brazilian prosecutors plan to file criminal charges this week against Chevron and Transocean and have ordered that the passports of 17 Chevron and Transocean executives be handed over to the Federal Police. These executives hail from all over, from the U.S., Australia, England, Canada, France and Brazil. Doesn't even matter if they relinquish their passports or not, all of their names are in the Federal Police system and there's no getting past Immigration at the airports now. These guys are stuck here pending investigation.

Pilots Lepore  & Palladino

Some people believe Brazil is reacting all out of proportion, particularly in confiscating passports, but I'll just bet Brazil is thinking about the two American pilots who were involved in a mid-air collision between a Gol passenger airliner and the business jet the Americans were piloting in 2006. All passengers and crew of the airliner were killed in the collision. The business jet landed safely, with some damage. After being kept in Brazil for two months, the two pilots were allowed to leave the country after signing a document promising to return to Brazil for their trial or when required by Brazilian authorities. I'm sure Brazil knows it's seen the last of those two pilots on Brazilian soil. In May of 2011 a Brazilian judge sentenced them to four years and four months of prison in a semi-open facility for their role in the collision, then commuted the sentences to community service to be performed in the United States. The pilots plan to appeal the conviction but, in the meanwhile, fly the friendly skies at will.


**NOTE TO MY E-MAIL FOLLOWERS: It seems that not all the videos I use in each blogpost are carried over to the e-mails. This isn't the worst thing in the world, but the terrific opening theme number of the old TV show, Baretta, sung by Sammy Davis, Jr. and beloved by all Baretta-lovers, wasn't at the top of my March 19th blogpost, Don't Do the Crime if You Can't Do the Time, as it should have been. The video made sense of the title and set the whole tone. So, if you want a more complete experience of that post, click on the web site itself.

The Language of Oil Spills

Over 30 years ago I worked for a maritime law firm which represented the French Government in litigation against Amoco Oil Company, owner of the oil tanker AMOCO CADIZ which grounded off the northwest coast of France in 1978, causing one of the biggest oil spills in history. I'm neither a lawyer nor an engineer, nor am I an expert in the petroleum field. My ten-year gig on this case was spent mostly as a document translator. But that experience gave me a real feel for the utter disconnect between what the oil companies say, what the oil companies mean, and what the reality is.

Now I sit on the eastern coast of Brazil with the threat of oil lapping the shores of my very own backyard, literally. Oil has been leaking from an offshore Chevron well since — let's see, Chevron says since November 9th, the Brazilian authorities say since November 7th. (That's only one of many inconsistencies.) Even though the oil may have drifted out to sea rather than onto shore, there remain a lot of questions and fingers are pointing like crazy. And it won't get any clearer, not for years to come. Don't waste your time trying to figure out the chronology or prepare your own time lines. Great minds, both engineering and legal, are already hard at work doing that, each to their own advantages.

Business English courses are springing up all over Brazil, but "corporate speak" English — the English that Chevron has been using — is a whole 'nother animal. "Corporate speak" is pure gobbledygook. It also minimizes whenever possible, like calling what's happened a "spill incident." That's so much lighter and less serious than an actual spill, isn't it? What a relief, we're just having an incident. Or referring to "the oil sheen" on the ocean's surface. I love that one. No thick, gloppy oil slick here, just a slight sheen, like the healthy sheen on a glowing face. The Brazilians believe that what's happened is an oil leak, and have consistently used the Portuguese word "vazamento" (for leak) in their discussions. Chevron, however, prefers the term "seep" as in, "We believe no new oil is seeping from the reservoir." More relief, our sheen is merely seeping, gradually and slowly.

Chevron president George Buck

A Brazilian friend of mine asked me last week why the president of Chevron Brasil, George Buck, sat at the "I'm-sorry-we're-doing-all-we-can" press conference and calmly read a prepared statement. This is most definitely not the way it's done in Brazil. Buck's Brazilian equivalent would have spoken emotionally, off the cuff, possibly with some tearing up, some self-deprecating humor and a few references to his family thrown in. Buck's performance did not go over well here. But in corporate America, that's the norm. It's what expensive legal departments are for. Chevron didn't deviate from the script for one nanosecond. First, Buck apologized for not speaking Portuguese. Then he offered sincere apologies to the Brazilian people. Then he stated that Chevron took full responsibility. (Just an aside, under maritime law that "full responsibility" will be shared with Chevron's partners, Petrobras and Frade Japão, as well as with Transocean as owner of the rig, Chevron's insurers and underwriters, with any manufacturer of any piece of equipment that might have had something to do with the "incident," and anyone else they can find.)

A huge blowup of this picture hung on my office wall during my AMOCO CADIZ lawsuit days. It shows the last piece of the vessel — looking an awful lot like the shark from Jaws — looming over the little Breton fishing village of Le Conquet. For those who might be wondering how it all came out, the law firm I worked for won the case against Amoco. Amoco appealed, and lost the appeal. It takes decades, but truth can prevail.