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Practices Devastated Indigenous People, Suit Claims

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2009

The plaintiffs allege Texaco used substandard production practices and dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon waterways.

•The case claims the acts led to the loss of traditional lifestyles for five Ecuadorean indigenous groups. The groups have lost the use of 95 percent of their ancestral land, the case claims, because of the affect of ChevronTexaco's oil operations.

•One group, the Tetetes, have disappeared. Remaining are the Cofan, Secoya, Siona and Wuaroni Indian tribes.

•The indigenous groups also are experiencing health problems, including cancers, not seen in their population before the oil exploration.

•A court expert estimated 1,401 deaths were from cancer were linked to oil contamination.

•Chevron challenged the scientific methods of the analysis, including the connection it made between oil spills and cancer cases. A Chevron consultant said the report didn't factor in Petroecuador's share of responsibility for the pollution.

•Chevron says Texaco cleaned up its share of the spills with three years of remediation work and that the Ecuadorean government absolved it of all future responsibility in 1998.

•The oil giant blames Petroecuador for any ongoing spills and for not following through on its share of the cleanup. Texaco was 37.5 percent partner in the oil field venture, and Petroecuador owned the rest.

•Chevron says the major health concerns in the region are not the result of oil operations, but are related to lack of water treatment infrastructure, the lack of sufficient sanitation infrastructure and inadequate access to medical care.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, www.texaco .com, Amazon Defense Coalition

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