Chevron and Cultural Genocide in Ecuador
by Kerry Kennedy
LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador – 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, sulphuric 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 head about what has been called “Chevron’s Chernobyl in the Amazon” for years. But nothing could prepare me for the horror I witnessed during my three-day visit to 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 the 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 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.
Copyright © TERRAVIVA
This is Justin with Chevron Corporation, and while we appreciate Kerry Kennedy’s work in the area of human rights, she continues to make several outrageous claims and factual errors in her various posts on the lawsuit involving Chevron in Ecuador that we feel compelled to correct.
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.
5) The plaintiffs say 1,400 people have died due to cancer from the oil operations – but in fact not one medical record or name has ever been associated with the plaintiff’s case against the company. Further, cancer claims (brought by the original architect of the lawsuit in Ecuador) against Chevron in the U.S. were thrown out in 2007 when it was discovered the plaintiffs had lied about their illnesses.
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.
Prior to leaving Ecuador, Texaco Petroleum, now a 5th tier subsidiary of Chevron, implemented a government prescribed remediation and public works program in proportion to the company’s 1/3 share of the oil-producing consortium with Petroecuador. In 1998, the Republic of Ecuador (represented by the Ministry of Energy and Mines) and Petroecuador certified that the remediation met Ecuadorian standards, and granted Texaco Petroleum a full and complete release of all further claims, liabilities and obligations associated with the company’s involvement.
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 have reached out to Ms. Kennedy only to be rebuffed. Nonetheless, we would still 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.
Dear Justin,
I approved your comment with your link. Usually I don’t approve the links but in your case I felt it was important to do so.
I believe in free speech and so therefore I approved your post so that you would have a chance to make your case to the readers of this blog.
Christine Cosser
Thank you Christine- this is greatly appreciated. If you are interested in discussing the case in greater depth, I’d be more than happy to chat anytime.
best,
Justin
Dear Justin,
I approved your post because it touched me and I felt you had a right to state your case. I also know what it is like to feel like you are hitting your head against a brick wall.
Knowledge is power and I wanted to give you a chance to present your facts. As a member of the Green Party we are most likely on oppositing sides but I know what it is like to have knowledge on an issue of great importance and having to find a way to get your voice heard so that one can complete the important task at hand.
I always try to be fair and so I feel I did the right thing in giving you a chance to present your case.
Christine Cosser