Texaco in Ecuador
|
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
The US oil giant left behind an enormous expanse of land and water polluted by 18.5 billion gallons of wastewater and oil.
When the US oil giant Texaco pulled out of drilling operations in the lush jungle of northeastern Ecuador more than a decade ago, it left behind an enormous expanse of land and water polluted by 18.5 billion gallons of wastewater and oil. The waste, dumped in several hundred pits, poisoned the rivers and streams on which indigenous communities and non-indigenous farmers depend for drinking, bathing and washing.
While experts call it one of the worst environmental disasters in the world, it was not a high-profile case, partly because the area was so remote and the residents—mainly indigenous groups and peasant farmers—are poor and lack political clout. Even when some local people began to consider a lawsuit against Texaco, the obstacles were daunting. How could anyone bring together the tens of thousands of people affected by the damage? And how could decisions be made that would satisfy everyone?
The Amazon Defense Front (FDA) was up to the challenge. Formed in 1994 to find ways to pressure Texaco to clean up the damage completely, the umbrella group of local community organizations has learned a lot over the past decade. Its first hurdle was educating people about the damage. Even though local residents were suffering from previously unknown illnesses and cancer rates were rising, people did not associate the problems with the pollution. Once they realized the extent of the problem, however, they banded together to seek a solution.
The company, meanwhile, insisted that it had cleaned up its waste pits to the government's satisfaction and had no further responsibility. In fact, says American lawyer Steve Donziger, who advises the plaintiffs' legal team, the company covered up some of the pits only with soil, leaving toxic oil, chemicals and heavy metals to leach into groundwater and travel miles downstream, affecting even distant communities. "It was like just applying makeup," Donziger says.
Read the complete interview with Steven Donziger
A study commissioned by PetroEcuador, the state-run oil company, and carried out by the Amazon Defense Front documented the true extent of the environmental and health problems. That study, which is now part of the evidence in the case, "demonstrates for the first time that all 207 pits that Texaco claims it remediated have concentrations of oil underneath the dirt used to cover the pits," Donziger says. "These are groundbreaking studies that present what I think is a convincing case that something was terribly amiss here."
Worried that they would not get a fair trial in Ecuador, the plaintiffs took their case against Texaco to court in the United States. For the next decade, it worked its way slowly through various appeals until 2003, when a US judge ruled that it should be heard first in Ecuador.
Local groups are calling the case "the trial of the century" because of the far-reaching impact that it could have on environmental law and community and indigenous rights in cases involving oil or mining companies around the world. It began on October 21, 2003, in the small jungle town of Lago Agrio in northern Ecuador.
The judge has heard witnesses' testimony and examined documents in the case. In 2004, he is physically inspecting at least 50 waste pits. Lawyers expect a decision later in 2004, although appeals could continue for several more years.
