No enterprise on earth makes American environmental activists more hysterical than Canada's oil sands. The relentless demonizing has had real effects: witness President Obama's refusal to say "Yes" to the Keystone XL pipeline and the thousands of shovel-ready jobs that would come with it. But ordinary people who prefer Canadian oil to OPEC oil also have a voice. They can make themselves heard, and cause the best laid plans of eco-activists to backfire. The saga of the Chiquita boycott proves this.
ForestEthics is an American green organization that is obsessed with labeling the oil sands as the home of the dirtiest oil on earth. That was graphically illustrated in this full-page advertisement that they ran in USA Today in February 2009. Of late, they've taken up a more refined tactic in their quest to shut down the oil sands. Companies with large fleets are being told they will be branded as filthy enemies of the earth if they don't publicly commit to eliminating any fuel from oil sands refineries, and lavishly praised for being green if they do. Under this pressure, Walgreen's, Whole Foods, Gap Inc, Fed Ex, and many other companies have at least paid lip service to the idea of shrinking their carbon footprints by using greener fuels, and some swore to end the use of any fuels from refineries that use feedstock from the oil sands.
Last November, ForestEthics landed a big fish. Manuel Rodriguez, Senior Vice President of Government and International Affairs, and Corporate Responsibility Officer for Chiquita Brands International, proclaimed:
"Accordingly, we are committed to directing out transportation providers to avoid, where possible, fuels from tar sands refineries and to adopt a strategy of continuous improvement towards the elimination of those fuels. We have recently confirmed this policy with our Company's providers through an RFP process to ensure that this fuel is not being used for ground trucking transportation."
This letter was published on the ForestEthics website.
No doubt, Chiquita thought this was a great opportunity to bask in green glory. But many Canadians didn't see it that way at all. The company's Facebook page was swiftly deluded with angry messages. Campaigns were started for people to boycott Chiquita products and to let the company know why. Members of Parliament from coast to coast declared their support for the boycott. Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Jason Kenney and Minister of Public Works & Government Services Rona Ambrose demanded to know why Chiquita was saying "No" to Canadian oil and "Yes" to oil from places like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The President of the Canadian Trucking Alliance said he was dismayed and amazed that a company like Chiquita could be so misinformed about Canadian energy. The Alberta Enterprise Group and other associations asked Chiquita to state unequivocally whether it really intended to ban Canadian oil.
The deluge of anger and bad publicity was so intense that the company was forced to back down. On the Chiquita website today is a statement that Chiquita is not boycotting or banning Canadian oil, and that it will continue to source Canadian oil. The company is still hiding behind a green fig leaf by referring to lower carbon footprints, and still isn't unequivocally saying "Yes" to the oil sands. But there is no more eliminationist rhetoric, and no more use of the pejorative tar sands.
Chiquita could have saved itself a lot of grief if it had realized that ForestEthics was plainly driven by a political agenda, rather than pure passion for the environment. Venezuelan oil, for instance, is heavy and high in sulfur, and the state oil company is not compelled to follow the strict environmental regulations that apply in Alberta. But ForestEthics cannot bring itself to say a bad word about oil from the socialist utopia whose leader proclaimed to the UN General Assembly that President Bush was the Devil.
Events in Chiquita's recent history should also have caused the company to pause before joining a crusade against Canadian oil. In 2007, the company pleaded guilty to one count of making payments to a designated terrorist organization and agreed to pay a $ 25 million fine. Between 1997 and 2004, Chiquita paid $ 1.7 million in protection money to the AUC, a Colombian paramilitary group that was designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department in 2001. Further investigation revealed that between 1989 and 1997, the company had made payments to the Marxist guerilla groups ELN and FARC as well.
Chiquita ought to have known that a public crusade against Canadian oil could bring these skeletons spilling out of its closet. If it labeled the products of the oil sands as dirty oil, someone was bound to label its products as blood bananas. Dealing with Colombian terrorists and their threats & extortion must have seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn't work out that way, and dealing with ForestEthics didn't turn out well either.
There's a silver lining to this story. Green activists may have the ear of the President of the United States and the ability to bend companies to their will. But ordinary Canadians and Americans alike have the power to thwart them when their countries' best interests are at stake.
Martin Beranek is a former engineer, current bookseller and writer, and life-long bookworm living on the shore of Lake Huron. You can read some more of his writing at martin-beranek.suite101.com
