Amazon Crude
May 4, 2009 4:09 AM
Ecuadorians are suing oil giant Chevron, the owner of Texaco, because they say oil drilling in the Amazon jungle by Texaco polluted their fragile environment. Scott Pelley reports.
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See all 47 CommentsBut more important is to find who is paying for the proces, the lawers, the transport, etc. Surelly it is not the indiands, or the Goverment.
But more important is to find who is paying for the proces, the lawers, the transport, etc. Surelly it is not the indiands, or the Goverment.
1. "Texaco 'abandoned' their operations in Ecuador and turned over what remaining operations it had to PetroEcuador. 'Abandoned' in the oil field means they properly conducted plug and abandonment operations that were in line with the regulations set by the Ecuador government."
Satellite photos PROVE the pits Texaco left were never remediated and remain to this day. If Texaco had been interested in properly managing the waster, they would have re-injected it inthe fiorst place - which was the practice at the time. The fact that they agreed on paper to do ANY remediation actually shows they KNEW they had polluted and admitted it. I have been there and seen it for myself - in areas where PetroEcuador has NEVER operated.
2. "Produced water" into the water ways - that means Texaco treated the water prior to disposal.
Wrong again, and visit http://chevrontoxico.com/about/environmental-impacts/produced-water.html to learn the extent of the neglect here.
3. Watch the video again and see if 60 minutes reported on anything that shows what PetroEcuador has done to the oil fields since Texaco left - they are the ones that have caused this tragic environmental damage.
What PetroEcuador is not at issue in this case. Texaco dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic waste and never cleaned it up. Petro is at fault for other things, but not that. Trying to confuse the issue is a weak tactic,
4. Even if Ecuador was to win the case and get the money - would they clean everything up?
Ecuador is not suing for a clean-up, the PEOPLE of the affected communities are. They are not doing so for financial gain and after pressing this case for almost two decades do you REALLY think they wouldn't actually clean their land once they had the resources? Do you think they'd prefer to see their children continue to die?
Jen, you accuse 60 Minutes of bad reporting but you have done no real researching into your false claims.
Oh, and LOOK AT THIS: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Cuomo-Presses-Chevron-on-Ecuador-Pollution.html
1. "Produced Water". Crude comes up from the ground mixed with highly saline water, laced with heavy metals and some of the more toxic soluble hydrocarbons. For each barrel of crude you might get 5-10 barrels of "Production water". In Ecuador the crude was separated from the water by basically just letting it sit in a tank, and skimming the crude off the top. The "water" underneath, still with a high hidrocarbon component, was dumped in the rivers. That is the extent of the treatment. In the US at the time all production water had to be reinjected back into the earth.
2. Yes, PetroEcuador is also responsible for contamination after Texaco/Chevron left, but that doesn't dissolve Chevron's responsibility. As for "abandoned" - the whole case is about the fact that Texaco did not properly plug and abandone sites - they left all the toxic waste lying in open pits, or buried under a thin layer of soil. All the tests, photos and sample analysis clearly demonstrate that, and that is the crux of the court case.
This is pathetic & ridiculous!!! They have profited billions of dollars & now are content to leave the problem in Ecuador. There is absolutely no excuse for this behavior!
Only a moron would not be able to see the damage left by Texaco. I hope the judge fines the company 25 billion for cleanup and 25 billion punitive damages. And I am adding Texaco [Chevron] to my list of disgusting planet polluting companies which I boycott.
By the way, you didn't scoop your glass of water out of that stream shown with the oil from the Chinese pipeline spill , did you? And does PetroEcuador ever spill oil or is it simply more convenient to blame it on everyone else?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/world/asia/04azerbaijan.html
I wonder if there's anyone Steve Donziger can represent?
The reality is this: Texaco operated these fields 20 years ago as a 40% partner while PetroEcuador owned 60%. Since then, the government has owned and operated at 100%. So why is all of this anger directed at Chevron with so little mention of the real culprits? If you find contaminated water today, odds are it was contaminated by PetroEcuador and the situation will never get better until that fact is broadly recognized. Lots of lawyers will walk away rich while PetroEcuador continues business as usual and none of these folks will benefit.
Who are you people who are posting comments in defense of a company with obscene profits in the tens of Billions of dollars, a company that then as now has no respect for living creatures? Are you not breathing air and drinking water? Do you feel so entirely removed from the people suffering in the Amazon that you can be so callous and unfeeling? Are you all on Chevron's payroll?
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