Condea Vista chem

ebh client is vista chem, same?1991:RWE-DEA A.G. said the Federal Trade Commission had requested more information about its $55-a-share offer for the Vista Chemical Company. RWE-DEA, a unit of RWE A.G. of Germany, said it planned to respond to the F.T.C. request. Vista, based in Houston, is an integrated producer of commodity and specialty chemicals. RWE-DEA is engaged in oil refining and marketing as well as the exploration and production of oil and natural gas.Condea is Louisiana<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">1950</h2>Sasol Founded to Make Oil from Coal in South Africa
<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2001</h2>Sasol, Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, Expanded into North America with the Purchase of CONDEA Vista's Assets.<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2003</h2>Sasol Limited Listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April, Shares Opened at $10.90 USD.<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2004</h2>Sasol North America's Research and Development Resources move from Austin, TX to the Lake Charles Chemical Complex<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2010</h2>Sasol Limited Board announced plans to build a new unit at the Lake Charles Chemical Complex.  A first-of-a-kind technology designed by Sasol engineers to produce hexene and octene from ethylene.<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2011</h2>In September of 2011, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and the Managing Director of Sasol Synfuels, Ernst Oberholster, visited the Lake Charles Chemical Complex for a special announcement. They jointly announced that Sasol had approved a feasibility study to build a gas-to-liquids plant adjacent to the existing complex. Two months later, it was announced that the company would also study building a world-scale ethane cracker for the same area.

In November of 2011, Sasol began construction on the worlds-first tetramerization unit to manufacture co-monomers at the Lake Charles Chemical Complex. Beneficial operation is expected in early 2014.<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2012</h2>In December of 2012, Sasol announced that both the world-scale ethane cracker and GTL projects would move into the front-end engineering design phase of the project studies.<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2013</h2>Sasol acquired full share ownership of Merisol, which includes plants in Texas and Pennsylvania. Merisol was previously a joint venture between Sasol and Merichem.

<h2 style="color: rgb(137, 137, 137); font-weight: normal;">2014</h2>
Sasol announces final investment decision for ethane cracker and derivatives complex on October 27. becket brown IntBBI, which was headquartered in Easton, Maryland, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, worked extensively, according to billing <a href="http://motherjones.com/files/legacy/news/feature/2008/04/Dioxin-Ketchum-GP-Report.pdf" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">records</a> [3], for public-relations companies, including Ketchum, Nichols-Dezenhall Communications, and Mongoven, Biscoe & Duchin. At the time, these PR outfits were servicing corporate clients fighting environmental organizations opposed to their products or actions. Ketchum, for <a href="http://motherjones.com/files/legacy/news/feature/2008/04/Dow-Global-Trends-Tracking-Team.pdf" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">example</a> [4], was working for Dow Chemical and Kraft Foods; Nichols-Dezenhall, according to BBI records, was working with Condea Vista, a chemical manufacturing firm that in 1994 leaked up to 47 million pounds of ethylene dichloride, a suspected carcinogen, into the Calcasieu River in Louisiana. spying on activists GP, see below  <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/9652" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://www.prwatch.org/node/9652</a>=---<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;">Industry and manufacturing</h3>Thousands in the Lake Area are employed by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro-chemical" title="Petro-chemical" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">petro-chemical</a> refineries located across the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcasieu_River" title="Calcasieu River" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">river</a> near <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur,Louisiana" title="Sulphur, Louisiana" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Sulphur</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westlake,Louisiana" title="Westlake, Louisiana" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Westlake</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Charles,Louisiana#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[15]</a> Some of the corporations with facilities in or around the city include <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPG_Industries" title="PPG Industries" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">PPG Industries</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConocoPhillips" title="ConocoPhillips" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">ConocoPhillips</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citgo" title="Citgo" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Citgo Petroleum Corporation</a>. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunkline_LNG" title="Trunkline LNG" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Trunkline LNG</a> terminal, immediately southwest of Lake Charles, is one of the United States' few <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquified_natural_gas" title="Liquified natural gas" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">liquified natural gas</a>terminals. It has facilities for LNG receipt, storage, and re-gasification. Lake Charles Cogeneration, a subsidiary of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucadia_National" title="Leucadia National" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Leucadia National</a>, began construction of a $1.6 billion petroleum coke gasification plant in early 2009.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Charles,Louisiana#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[16]</a>Manufacturing has been achieving economic success in the area in order to diversify the economic base of the city. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennault_International_Airport" title="Chennault International Airport" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Chennault International Airport</a> hosts <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroframe" title="Aeroframe" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Aeroframe</a>, which services airplanes, and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman" title="Northrop Grumman" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Northrop Grumman</a> facility. Louisiana Geothermal of Lake Charles will begin construction of a geothermal electric plant.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Charles,Louisiana#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[17]</a> Aeroframe recently announced it will add over 300 aerospace jobs at Chennault,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Charles,Louisiana#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[18]</a> and has announced that it will locate its global corporate headquarters to Lake Charles.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Charles,Louisiana#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[19]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shaw_Group" title="The Shaw Group" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Shaw Group</a> has built a large manufacturing facility which manufactures parts for nuclear power plants. The company has assured the city and residents that nuclear material and radioactive waste are not involved at the facility. Shaw employs over one thousand workers when at full capacity.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Charles,Louisiana#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; white-space: nowrap; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">[20]</a>---http://www.kplctv.com/global/story.asp?s=8399515<div id="WNStoryHeader" style="margin-bottom: 13px;"><h3 class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both;">Condea Vista hired spies</h3><div class="wnFacebookTools-Like" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; clear: both;">Posted: May 29, 2008 9:23 PM PDT</div>
<div id="WNStoryBody" class=" withRelated" style="margin-bottom: 15px; display: inline;">A local chemical company, Condea Vista, spent thousands of dollars on spies paid to gather intelligence about the activities of local environmentalists and attorneys involved in litigation stemming from pollution.Thousands of records developed by a now defunct spy firm reveal tactics ranging from digging through people's trash to infiltrating the local environmental group, Clean.It all happened around the time Condea Vista was under extreme scrutiny due to a massive chemical spill: In 1994 the public learned of a chemical spill from a pipeline that ran from Condea Vista chemical plant to the Conoco refinery. It was a spill the magnitude of which was first grossly understated and is today considered one of the largest in U.S. History-- ranging from between 19 to 47 million pounds of ethylene dichloride that escaped undetected from the pipeline. In the aftermath environmental activists campaigned for cleanup and full disclosure of what happened, plus a slew of lawsuits were filed by workers complaining of chemical exposure.That's when Condea Vista decided to hire a Maryland private security firm called Beckett Brown to spy on those they considered hostile to the company. Condea's Peter Markey admits hiring them in a sworn deposition taken in the civil suits.  Here's some of the Q and A:  Attorney: "Who knew about it?" Markey: "The president. Probably the chief counsel."  Attorney: "You hired a group from the northeast to go basically infiltrate activist groups that you thought were hostile to the company?" Markey: "Yes." Attorney: "What precisely was the directive you gave this investigative agency? Markey: "Find out what you can find out."  Attorney: "Do you recall that the background individuals and people you hired were secret service people, CIA people? Does that sound familiar too?" Markey: "I just knew they had some surveillance experience." All this came to light a year or so ago when local attorney Tom Filo got a call from a former investor in Beckett Brown, who decided to blow the whistle. "Somebody from Maryland claimed to have some 5000 documents from our law firm." And Filo says it was true. Records show he, his former wife and others were targets of the spies; their tactics included infiltrating the local environmental group Clean, digging through garbage, conducting surveillance, somehow obtaining phone records. Filo says they had records from his office. "When you start intercepting emails and you start digging into private matters and getting a hold of phone records, things that you should not be doing, you cross the line."Filo's office was also the office of then State Senator Jim Cox.  He's outraged at what the records show.  "They were engaging in covert operations and industrial espionage because they were trying to protect their pocket book. The people who were on the sidelines, activists groups and all those, didn't have a monetary reason to be invaded in this fashion. I was a state senator trying to represent people. I don't think it's right for them to have done that." Another target identified was environmental activist Beth Zilbert who is amazed to read written reports on her personal activities. "Going through people's garbage and sitting outside their houses and watching the comings and goings of who is going away from their house. Taking down license plates. Possibly tapping their phone and then following from those phone numbers and getting the names and addresses of the people that their calling." Another target, Mike Tritico, who now lives in rural Beauregard Parish was astounded to see photos of his family home in Lake Charles and property tax records. "I thought about the lowest dirty trick of all was surveillance of my mother's house, taking pictures into her garage, getting her tax notices, that sort of thing. That's just a cheap shot. They didn't have to do that." Invoices suggest Condea Vista spent close to a quarter of a million dollars on the spying operation that may have cost them in ways only time will tell.Sasol now owns Condea Vista. It released a statement saying they acquired Condea Vista in 2001 and have no comment on events that happened prior to their becoming owners of the company. This story is getting national attention in the magazine Mother Jones. For a link to the article about Beckett Brown's "Lake Charles Project" <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/05/environmental-espionage-chemical-company-spy-op.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128); text-decoration: initial;">click here.</a>   An earlier article tells about the company's activities on behalf of other companies and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/04/firm-spied-on-environmental-groups.html" target="blank" style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128); text-decoration: initial;">provides links</a> to many documents made public recently.== Can Cancer Alley See Environmental Justice?
Like <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/report-climate-change-african-americans.php" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">other</a> <a href="http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/time-remove-ewaste.html" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">cases</a> of <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/epa-revives-environmental-justice-working-group.php" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">environmental justice</a>, it's no accident that the population in cancer alley is primarily minority and low-income. The alarming cancer rates are most often associated to all the industrial and petrochemical plants nearby, although <a href="http://oem.bmj.com/content/61/4/295" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Shell Oil has commissioned studies</a> seeking to prove the cancer rate isn't actually higher in cancer alley. But many don't buy it. This <a href="http://www.pollutionissues.com/Br-Co/Cancer-Alley-Louisiana.html" style="text-decoration: initial; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">from pollutionissues.com</a>:<blockquote>Industrial accidents and accidental releases are common occurrences in cancer alley. For instance, in 1994 Condea Vista (Conoco) located in Lake Charles reported thirty-nine chemical accidents that released 129,500 pounds of chemicals. The following year, Condea Vista reported ninety accidental chemical releases. In 1997 the company was charged with contaminating local groundwater supplies by discharging between 19 to 47 million pounds of ethylene dichloride (EDC), a suspected human carcinogen, into a local stream. In 1999 hundreds of unskilled laborers filed suit against Condea Vista, claiming they were exposed to EDC while cleaning up a spill from a leaking underground pipeline.</blockquote></div></div>