See Also:         AGUINDA V. TEXACO WEBSITE          WWW.CHEVRONTOXICO.ORG

                 ECUADOR








































 

 
 

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.

                                  


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. 
 
  ©Lou Dematteis		  

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.
 



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.

  
 

 

  
   
 
©Steven Donziger
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.

 
  ©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.		  
 

©Lou Dematteis		  
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.
 

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



  

        


 




 


Read More Here
 To read more about the legal side of this travesty click here. 
            		 
 














Ecuadorian Citizens Protest Texaco's Amazon Oil Pollution

Texaco Comes With a Lot of Assets. and One Huge Liability
June 4, 1998

Racism at Texaco has had an effect on entire Oil Industry

Badge of Shame

Texaco in the 
McSpotlight
 
Sample of Articles on the Case

Press Releases

 What Texaco Management is not telling Shareholders


APECA


 
 
   
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