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See
Also:
AGUINDA V. TEXACO WEBSITE WWW.CHEVRONTOXICO.ORG
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ECUADOR
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The Ecuadorans charge the Texaco caused widespread
devastation to their rainforest environment by dumping 10
million gallons per day, over the course of about twenty
years, of highly toxic waste water and crude oil into the
surrounding ecosystem. The residents charge that Texaco's
practices wrecked their traditional way of life and created
a dramatically increased risk of cancer for tens of
thousands of people.
There needs to be MORE CLEAN UP.
The
residents of Ecuador who live in the affected region
have sought for many years to convince Texaco to clean
up the pollution and to install proper waste-disposal
technology.
Experts estimate that
installing the proper technology to reinject the waste water
into the ground will cost Texaco several hundred million
dollars. On top of that, there is the cost of cleaning up
the existing pollution, paying residents compensation for
their medical problems and lost wages, and restoring some
sense of balance to the ecosystem for the indigenous tribes
can again flourish. It is estimated that the cost to cleanup
and compensate individuals could exceed $1 billion. Texaco doesn't
want to do that much.
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A
young child after playing on a road in front of his house.
Almost all children (and many adults and farm animals) in
the area where Texaco operated have what seems to be a
permanent layer of sticky crude on the bottom of their feet.
This crude comes largely from the roads, which are regularly
topped off with sludge suctioned out of the toxic waste
pits. It also comes from the area's farms, which are often
polluted with raw crude oil when pipelines rupture. |
There is
virtually no clean-up technology in the region; when a spill
occurs, workers are often paid to wade into the chest-high
crude with only shorts and boots to protect themselves. The
oil is often removed in wheelbarrows, only to be dumped in
another area. |
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©Lou
Dematteis |
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A
mother takes her baby to be examined by a medical worker in
Coca, a town in the Ecuadoran Amazon. The baby appears to be
suffering from dermatosis -- a common skin condition that
local medical workers believe results from prolonged
exposure to contaminated water. Because there is no running
water in the region, most people bathe in rivers and creeks,
almost all of which are contaminated by runoff from the
toxic waste pits.
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Almost six years after the filing of the lawsuit — as
the case moves toward trial despite Texaco's six attempts to
have it dismissed — the residents of the Ecuadoran Amazon
continue to live out their version of an environmental
apocalypse: increased pollution, an alarming cancer rate, a
dramatic upsurge in spontaneous abortions and other
diseases, and a devastated economy.
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©Steven
Donziger
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Children
of the Cofan performing a dance to mark the suffering
the tribe has endured since Texaco built a well on
their land in 1971. The children put oil on their
hands as a symbol of how Texaco has impacted their
lives. The Cofan, once a thriving community, have seen
disease and forced migration reduce their population
from 15,000 in 1970 to a few hundred today. |

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©Lou
Dematteis
Feet
smeared with sticky crude oil. Because of economic
circumstance, most children (and many adults) in the region
go barefoot as they walk along roads that have been topped
with the sludge from the waste pits. The sludge often turns
to a mucky residue during the frequent jungle rainstorms.
Most residents wash the sludge from their feet with
gasoline-soaked rags provided free by the Ecuadoran
government. |
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©Lou
Dematteis |
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Maria Aguinda
(left), the lead plaintiff in the case, with members of her
family. The road is slicked with toxic sludge from Texaco's
waste pits. |
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Upon discovering
that the contamination caused by Texaco had flowed down
river to the Peruvian Amazon, several Peruvian residents in
1994 filed a second lawsuit against the company in New York.
That case, Jota v. Texaco, is also pending decision
in federal court in New York on Texaco's pre-trial motions
to dismiss. The Peruvian residents are represented by the
same group of lawyers
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FAIR USE NOTICE:
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are making such material available in our efforts to advance
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If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for
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permission from the copyright owner.
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This website is the creation of the Frente
Para La Defensa De La Amazonía. It is not a website of
Texaco Inc. It is website that describes the plight of the people
of the rainforest caused by Texaco Inc.
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