Traces of paradise are still visible. From the air, the rainforest region in northern Ecuador--known as the Oriente--appears as silvery mist and swaths of verdant green.
But beneath the cloud cover and canopy, the jungle is a tangle of oil slicks, festering sludge, and rusted pipeline. Smokestacks sprout from the ground, spewing throat-burning fumes into the air. Wastewater from unlined pits seeps into the groundwater and flows into the rivers and streams.
This nightmarish landscape is the legacy of Texaco. Between 1964 and 1990, Texaco (which was acquired by Chevron in 2001) drilled roughly 350 wells across 2,700 square miles of Amazon rainforest. It extracted some $30 billion in profits while deliberately dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic soup, known as production water--a mixture of oil, sulpheric acid, and other carcinogens--into the streams and rivers where people collect drinking water, fish, bathe, and swim.
In the process, Texaco constructed over 900 oil sludge pits, many the size of Olympic swimming pools. Unlike swimming pools, these pits were unlined punctures in the earth. With no concrete to protect the surrounding soil, poison seeped into the ground water.
I had heard about what has been called "Chevron's Chernobyl in the Amazon" for years. But nothing could prepare me for the horror I witnessed this week in Ecuador.
I held a dragonfly covered in oil in my hands, desperately and hopelessly trying to flutter its wings. I saw pig footprints in the mud next to the oily gunk, where it had eaten contaminated grass, and will soon be contaminating the children, women, and men, who in turn feed on Chevron's waste.
I met a man who told me his two children died after swimming in contaminated water. One died within 24 hours. The other writhed in agony for six months before his poor body gave way.
I met another man whose home is just a few hundred yards from one of the pits. He has 10 children. All of them have become sick, some covered with sores. His chickens and pigs have died. Nothing grows near his home.
I saw a poisonous pit abandoned by Texaco in 1974 and never used by any other company. The pipes leading from that pit have clear liquid running from them. When I put the liquid to my nose, it smelled like gasoline. It runs directly into an adjoining stream, which is the main source of drinking water for people who live along its banks.
We heard terrifying stories of mistreatment by Texaco workers: women raped; shamans taken by helicopter to far mountain ranges to see if they could find their way back; Indians told that rubbing oil on their bald scalps would make their hair grow long and thick; and Texaco trucks that dumped oil waste on roads where people walked and suffered the burns of sticky tar in hot sun.
This is not a matter of misty-eyed nostalgia. This is an issue of human rights - clear violations of the indigenous Ecuadoreans' rights to life, security, and self-determination.
When Texaco oilmen descended from helicopters into the jungle in the early 1960s, they gifted the locals with bread, cheese, plates, and spoons. To this day, this is the only compensation any of the indigenous groups have ever received.
Never were they asked for their permission before Texaco executives negotiated a contract with Ecuadorean government officials.
Texaco knew people would die because of what they were doing, and they ignored it. At last count, 1,400 children, women, and men have died of illnesses directly attributed to Texaco's contamination. Cancer rates in communities affected by oil activity are 30 times higher than anywhere else in the country. Other medical teams have documented elevated rates of birth defects, miscarriages, skin disease, and nerve damage.
Two nomadic groups that once inhabited the region, the Tetetes and the Sansahuari, have been wiped out. What Texaco did arguably amounts to criminally negligent homicide.
Now, the remaining indigenous peoples of the Oriente - the Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Kichwa, and the Huaorani people - have taken the fight to Chevron. Organized by a grassroots organization called the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia--the Amazon Defense Coalition--they are simply demanding through an unprecedented class action lawsuit that Chevron clean up its mess.
The case is now in its 16th year. Chevron (whose human rights statement reads, "We value and respect the cultures and traditions of the many communities in which we work") has tossed up one delay after another.
Yet, the evidence of Texaco's wrongdoing is plain for all to see. Last year, an unnamed Chevron lobbyist was quoted as saying the lesson of Ecuador is that "We can't let little countries screw around with big companies like this--companies that have made big investments around the world."
But as an American, I am appalled that a corporation from our country would treat innocent people with such disdain. We--consumers investors, elected officials, journalists, activists, and citizens--must hold Chevron accountable for its actions, and see that justice is done.
Here in the Oriente, 45 years after Texaco first bore into the ground--16 years after the Ecuadoreans began their fight for justice--traces of paradise are still visible. We must not allow them to vanish.
1) The consortium (Texaco Petroleum and Petroecuador) drilled 321 wells (not 350). In fact, Petroecuador has drilled an additional 400 wells in the region since the consortium ended.
2) While the consortium generated $25 billion in revenue, Texaco’s portion was less than $500 million- the rest went to the Government of Ecuador.
3) Ms. Kennedy also cites plaintiffs’ claims that there were 900 pits in the concession area. Under a government outlined and supervised agreement, Texaco was assigned and remediated 161 of 430 identified pits- a portion that corresponded with the company’s 37.5% stake in the consortium; Petroecuador agreed to accept 100% responsibility for the remaining sites (many of which are still in use today).
4) The major health concerns in the Oriente region are related to a lack of water treatment infrastructure, a lack of sufficient sanitation infrastructure and inadequate access to medical care.
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6) It is incorrect to state that cancer rates in the Oriente communities are 30 times higher. The
government’s own health records show that is not true and cancer rates are lower in this region than in the metropolitan Quito region.
7) Ms. Kennedy also repeats unfounded claims against Texaco employees without citing any sources or court documents to support her terrible allegations.Ms. Kennedy is right to be concerned about the poverty and health issues in the Oriente region. But blame here rests with the Government of Ecuador for its lack of investment in sanitation and medical infrastructure and Petroecudaor for the company’s ongoing environmental mismanagement (1,400 spills since 2000) and remediation neglect.
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There is no question that the people of the Oriente region face a series of challenges regarding the health in their communities. However, the facts are clear – Texaco Petroleum acted responsibly and cleaned up its share of the consortium years ago, while the Government of Ecuador and Petroecuador have chosen profits over environmental stewardship. Chevron firmly rejects the notion that it should be responsible for addressing the overall problems of the region, caused by the government and the state oil company, who are unwilling or unable to shoulder their responsibility. Chevron is steadfast in its belief that the current litigation is void of any factual legal merit and remains resolute in defending against it.
We welcome a chance to sit down with Ms. Kennedy to give her a complete review of Texaco’s involvement in the consortium, the science involved in this case and to discuss Petroecuador’s culpability.
For those that are interested in learning more about this matter, please visit: www.theamazonpost.com
Legal, but disgusting. I hope they are paying you well for your soul, Justin.
Please do whatever you can to get your story posted on other media wire services like AP and Reuters. This story needs to be heard, and I applaud your courage to write it. I just hope more people read it.
"We can't let little countries screw around with big companies like this--companies that have made big investments around the world."
what do the "christians" who are preoccupied with my sex life--or freakin' halloween candy--think of this? see anything satanic here?
Refuse
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
I have reduced my impact in the world significantly.
I only buy food at farmers markets and locally owned stores.
No canned foods because it contains BPA.
I still drive my old car, and look forward to buying an electric hybrid plug-in vehicle soon.
I have solar panels and wind turbines on my home and I'm 95% off the grid.
I cancelled my cable 8 years ago and saved a bundle. I read many more books as a result.
I bought all of my furniture at estate sales.
Most of my clothes are bought from consignment shops and thrift stores.
I buy other stuff on craigslist at 80% off retail.
I drink filtered tap water and brew my own coffee and tea and other beverages at home.
It's wonderful not to contribute my hard earned money to greedy corporations.
Oil and Petrochemicals and Plastics are the biggest source of wars and death in this world.
Stop buying these products and help make the world a better and safer place.
LOOK IN THE MIRROR!
Do any of you drive a car?
Cook food?
Go out to eat?
Write wit a pen?
Guess we are all GUILTY........RIGHT!!!!
How did the Kenedys make their money?
Let's take the Kenedy Fortune and give it to the people.
Beter Idea...Let's go stand outside their compound and protest them.
Bet U libs will never o that....will Ya!
But, I got a real hoot a few months back when the workers at a refinery came out to protest the protesters for failing to carpool!! When you got to protest a refinery lining the streets with SUVs does not send the correct message!
I mean, all these delaying actions and roadblocks are more like the actions of a criminal fleeing justice than an innocent who wants a fair trial.
what IS your point?
From your perspective, what Chevron does to other countries that are powerless in comparison to us is of no significance as long as it "enables the liberals and leftists of our country" and the likes of you "lead comfortable and productive lives." Right?
I assume you are the firm believer is doing to others as you wish but God help them if they do the same to you. Right?
Are you also one of those "Love it or leave it” types?
Could you also do us a favor and define exactly what you mean by “liberals and leftists”?
Our claim to spiritual superiority is a joke. It is not just our companies that misbehave, our government acts - not just with little countries but with the rest of the world - as if they should do whatever they do in regard to us in a manner pleasing to us and we do with them also in the manner pleasing to us.
I assume that our international corporation, e.g. Texaco and Chevron, have to abide by certain operating standards within our own country. Our government should require our business enterprises operating abroad to abide by the same standards.
More importantly, we should treat the people of other nation as we would like to be treated by them. We have be seriously concerned about falling from grace as has been the faith of all great civilizations of the past.