EO Blog

The independent podcast series What Now examines the world's most pressing social and environmental problems through interviews with the innovative people trying to solve them. EO's President and Co-Founder David Poritz talked with What Now's host Ken Rose last week, and the product is the December 30th episode of the podcast, available for streaming on the What Now website and for download from iTunes.

Equitable Origin’s VP of Standers & Stakeholder Engagement, Soledad Mills, was a guest speaker at the 13th annual Aboriginal Oil and Gas Forum in Edmonton, Alberta in late November. The conference brought diverse groups of stakeholders together to discuss new opportunities and platforms for indigenous communities to participate in oil and gas development in northern Canada.

Equitable Origin has received its first official complaint, from the U.S. labor organization AFL-CIO. Submitted in the form of a letter addressed to EO’s former Chief Executive Officer Stephen Newton (now a member of EO’s Board of Directors), the complaint included claims of practices at the certified Quifa and Rubiales oil fields operated by Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE) that violate EO100™ provisions for fair labor and working conditions.

The section of the Amazon Jungle in the Peruvian state of Madre de Dios has come to be a focus of international attention as sizable oil and natural gas reserves have made the region the site of likely development activity in the near future. On top of what could be the largest oil and gas reserves in Peru sit natural areas (comprising several national parks and national reserves) that are rich in biodiversity and the ancestral lands of numerous indigenous communities.

Great news: we've extended the public comment period for the EO100™ Standard!

We've received hundreds of comments on the standard since the public comment period opened in October, but wanted to give all those who intended to make comments but didn't quite make the December 5th deadline a second chance.

EO representatives traveled to the University of South Carolina (USC) on November 21st to meet with students, faculty and administrators about the EO system and how schools like USC could participate in improving oil and gas production practices.

Equitable Origin brought together a diverse group of stakeholders for a consultation on the EO100™ Standard in Washington, D.C. last week. EO hosted a lunchtime event at the offices of RESOLVE, a nonprofit conflict resolution organization that works on environmental, social, and public health issues, on November 20th.

EO President and Co-Founder David Poritz in the E&E Publishing studio for a video interview with journalist Monica Trauzzi

While in Washington, D.C. last week, EO President and Co-Founder David Poritz stopped in at the studios of E&E TV (the tv arm of energy news outlet Energy & Environment Publishing) for an interview.

From the 3rd to 5th of November 2014, Equitable Origin held a workshop on the EO100 Standard and its ability to reduce the negative social and environmental impacts of oil and gas development in Peru. The workshop was hosted by FENAMAD, the Native Federation of the River and Tributaries of Madre de Dios, at their headquarters in the city of Puerto Maldonado. The meeting was called to discuss the applicability of the EO100 Standard in the Madre de Dios region, where proposals for oil and gas development of Lot 76 have come under increasing scrutiny and caused considerable controversy between indigenous groups, NGOs, government ministries and private oil companies. Located deep in the Peruvian Amazon, Lot 76 straddles three provinces and overlaps four protected natural areas, covering nearly all of the Amarakaeri Community Reserve, an area designated for its rich biodiversity and the historic cultural patrimony of several indigenous communities.