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NEWS - Green Group Asks Calif Offic
Green Group Asks Calif Official to Dissolve Unocal
Reuters
10-SEP-98
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)- A group of activists, claiming big
corporations are too often above the law, on Thursday
demanded that
California's attorney general dissolve Unocal Corp. by
invoking a
rarely used state statute that would put the company out of
business.
The activists, including environmentalists, feminists and
human rights
advocates, also said they will look into dissolving the
charters of other
companies, but alleged Unocal stood out for its record of
violations.
In a 127-page petition filed with the attorney general, the
group, which
does not have a name, blasted the El Segundo, Calif.-based
firm for
alleged crimes against humanity and the environment, and
demanded
its charter be revoked.
"What this will mean is the dissolution of the Union Oil Co.
of California
(Unocal), the sale of its assets under careful court orders
to others who
will carry on in the public interest," said Robert Benson, a
law
professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who
co-wrote the proposal. Benson was speaking at a news
conference
held outside the attorney general's office here.
A Unocal spokesman called the group's charges "ludicrous"
and said
they was no legal basis for its action.
"We've got a case of activists attempting to subvert the
will of
stockholders, the buying public, the courts and leaders of
nations
around the world," said Unocal spokesman Barry Lane. "Unocal
has
met highest the ethical standards in all our activities,"
Lane said.
The attorney general barred the group from entering the
state office
building, but sent a representative to pick up the petition.
Incorporated in 1890, Union Oil Company of California is the
principle
operating subsidiary of Unocal Corp., a holding company
incorporated
in Delaware. Lane said most of Unocal's $7.5 billion worth
of assets
reside in Union's operations.
Activists said if Attorney General Dan Lungren, the
Republican
contender for governor, refuses their petition they will go
to court to
force him to consider it.
"Unocal is the mere creature of California law," said
Michelle Sypert,
an attorney who co-authored the petition.
The petition was the latest in a series of attacks on the
company. At its
annual meeting in June some shareholders objected to
Unocal's plan
to build a pipeline in Afghanistan, a country under control
of the
Taleban, an Islamic movement that critics say represses
women and
violates human rights.
The company said it had spent $10 million to $15 million on
the project
since 1995.
At the June shareholders' meeting, Chief Executive Officer
Roger
Beach said the company had not signed any commercial
agreements
with the Taleban or other factions and was conducting itself
according
to U.N. regulations.
Unocal has said it remained politically neutral and planned
to donate
$1 million in aid to the country in 1998.
The company's Thailand project, which pipes in natural gas
from
offshore Myanmar, formerly Burma, also has come under fire.
The U.S. government has imposed unilateral sanctions on
Myanmar,
barring any new investment in the former Burma because of
allegations of human rights abuses in connection with the
pipeline's
construction.
Unocal's Lane said two lawsuits filed against the company
over Burma
have turned up no evidence of human rights violations,
according to
the courts hearing the cases. Both suits remain in pretrial
stage.
While Unocal has paid millions to settle pollution suits in
its home
state, Lane said the company has acknowledged its mistakes
and
paid for them.
"We've taken responsibility for them and corrected them,"
Lane said.
_______________________________________________________________
Environmental, Human Rights Groups Ask Attorney General to Revoke
AP
10-SEP-98
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A coalition of environmental, consumer
and
human rights groups want the state to overturn Unocal
Corp.'s
corporate charter, contending the oil company pollutes the
environment and does business with oppressive governments.
The request on Thursday is based on a rarely used law that
empowers
the attorney general to go to court to dissolve a
corporation that has
acted against the public interest.
A spokesman for Unocal said allegations made in the petition
were
without legal basis.
"This petition is an attempt to organize anti-business
pressure and
further the political agenda of these activist groups," said
Barry Lane.
"The Unocal Corp. has met the highest ethical standards in
all of its
business activities and worked to improve the lives of the
people
wherever we operate, both in the United States and
overseas," he
said.
The petition, announced at news conferences in Los Angeles
and San
Francisco, was delivered soon after to Attorney General Dan
Lungren's Los Angeles field office.
Rob Stutzman, a spokesman for Lungren, said staff attorneys
had not
reviewed the petition and could not comment.
In May, state officials in New York invoked a similar law to
attack the
charters of two research firms affiliated with tobacco
companies, said
Robert Benson, a Loyola Law School professor who authored
the
petition. An Alabama state judge, acting as an individual,
filed a
similar petition against tobacco companies, he said. Those
cases are
awaiting decisions.
"The law has always allowed the attorney general to go to
court to
simply dissolve a corporation for wrongdoing and sell its
assets to
others who will operate in the public interest," said
Benson.
The petition cites Unocal's involvement in a 1969 oil spill
off the
California coast and other environmental mishaps. It also
claims that
by virtue of its participation in a natural gas project in
Myanmar and a
proposed project in Afghanistan, it shares responsibility
for human
rights abuses in those countries.
Unocal is developing a natural gas field in Myanmar, and
leads a
consortium of companies seeking to build a natural gas
pipeline
across Afghanistan. Unocal recently suspended discussions on
the
pipeline, which is not yet under construction, because of
U.S. missile
strikes last month on a suspected terrorist base there.
Unocal also has said it will not begin work on the line
until Afghanistan
has a government that is recognized by the United States and
the
United Nations.
Those supporting the petition include the Feminist Majority
Foundation, the Rainforest Action Network, the Burma Forum
and
Asian/Pacific Gays and Friends and consumer rights advocate
Harvey
Rosenfield.