Lago Agrio, Ecuador and San Ramon, CA – After filing a historic lawsuit charging ChevronTexaco with massive toxic dumping in the Amazon Rainforest, a 12-person delegation of indigenous leaders and campesinos – representing 30,000 rainforest peoples – is traveling thousands of miles to ChevronTexaco’s hometown to seek justice.
“We are survivors of an oil spill twice the size of the Exxon Valdez,” said Toribio Aguinda, one of the last remaining members of the Cofan. “We come to San Ramon after traveling thousands of miles by foot, canoe, bus, car and jet to tell Mr. O’Reilly that his company is responsible for fixing this tragedy. Too many people have died. We can wait no longer.”
The petroleum giant systematically dumped on a daily basis 4 million gallons of highly toxic wastewater literally onto the doorsteps of 30,000 rainforest peoples, destroying their ancestral homelands, where their communities had hunted and fished for centuries. Now, leaders representing the indigenous nations of the Cofan, Siona, Secoya and Huaorani are traveling to San Ramon, California to confront ChevronTexaco CEO David O’Reilly. The leaders will arrive by Tuesday, May 13 at 11:00 am PT where they will attend a press conference organized by Amazon Watch, an environmental watchdog group, announcing their intention to meet with O’Reilly. From the press conference, they will head to ChevronTexaco headquarters to deliver a letter requesting the O’Reilly meeting.
Leila Salazar, campaign organizer for Amazon Watch, said, “We are calling on consumers to boycott ChevronTexaco products until the company cleans up and pays up. By purchasing ChevronTexaco gas, consumers are getting more Amazon rainforest destruction per gallon.”
The Leaders
Members of the delegation include:
Fredi Wilian Criollo Merino, President of Siona Federation
Wilmer Marbin Piaguaje, President of Secoya Federation
Ermel Gabriel Chávez Parra, President of Frente
Camilo Taremo Huamoni Coba, Huaorani
Omenda Laura Mendúa, Cofán
Cecilia Lucitante Mendúa, Cofán
Toribio Aguinda, Cofán
Luciano Lucitante Quenamá, Cofán
Eduardo Silvio Chapal Quintero, Cofán
Luis Yanza, Frente de la Defensa de la Amazonia
Mariana Manuela Jimenez Abab, Via Colombia community
Rosa Moreno Chalaco, San Carlos community member
The Meeting
The delegation will stay in San Ramon through May 23rd in order to provide a two-week window for the meeting. They seek a half hour of Mr. O’Reilly’s time with 24 hours notice so that their lawyers may be present.
The leaders intend to share with Mr. O’Reilly the personal toll that Chevron Texaco’s Ecuadorian operations have wreaked on their families and communities. The indigenous leaders will call on ChevronTexaco to accept responsibility for the catastrophe that has destroyed their homeland and killed many of their family members. Twice the size of the Exxon Valdez and systematically and knowingly perpetrated by ChevronTexaco, the toxic tragedy has exacted a staggering toll:
• Five indigenous cultures are on the brink of collapse
• The Cofan People, which numbered 15,000 at one time, now number less than 900
• 2.5 million acres of pristine rainforest have been lost
• 18.5 billion gallons of highly toxic wastewater was dumped into the waterways.
The Chevron Texaco Way
The leaders wish to discuss with Mr. O’Reilly how ChevronTexaco’s actions and “legacy” in Ecuador deviates substantially from the company’s espoused corporate citizenship values, proudly championed as the “ChevronTexaco Way.”
The company pledges “to conduct business in a socially responsible and ethical manner… support universal human rights… protect the environment, and the communities where we work… [and] learn from and respect cultures in which we work.” The company elaborates on this commitment to its “core values” extensively in its own marketing materials, which can found on its website (www.chevrontexaco.com). But in the Ecuadorian Amazon, ChevronTexaco’s behavior falls short of these professed goals.
The Crime
Between 1972 and 1992, Texaco (now ChevronTexaco) extracted 1.5 billion barrels of oil from the pristine Amazon region known as the Oriente. In order to save millions of dollars – an estimated $3 per barrel – ChevronTexaco simply dumped the toxic wastes from its operations into the rivers, forest streams and wetlands, ignoring industry standards in effect at the time. The result is one of the most infamous social and environmental disasters in the history of the Americas.
ChevronTexaco’s drilling in Ecuador has not only destroyed communities, it has pushed indigenous groups to the brink of extinction and left behind a trail of health problems and environmental destruction that impacts tens of thousands of persons. ChevronTexaco has never denied that it dumped millions of gallons of toxic wastewater each day into the Amazon rainforest at its drilling sites (a total of roughly 18.5 billion gallons of wastewater over a 20-year period). ChevronTexaco, which built and managed the Ecuadorian operations, claimed there was nothing wrong with this practice and that it was consistent with Ecuadorian law and industry standards back then. The truth is that such practices were outlawed in the United States more than 50 years ago, and the company cannot cite even one instance where it engaged in a similar practice anywhere in the world. ChevronTexaco also has claimed there is “no credible scientific evidence” to support the allegations of the region’s residents that the toxic substances caused cancer and other health problems. A number of health studies have documented that the communities living near the company’s operations are suffering an exploding health crisis, including incidences of eight types of cancer at rates far higher than historical norms. At least dozens of persons, and perhaps hundreds, have contracted cancer and died; thousands are being exposed to an increased risk of cancer on a daily basis. ChevronTexaco now claims that it has no liability for any damage created by its operations in Ecuador.
Paid Media Campaign
To coincide with the delegation’s trip to San Ramon, Amazon Watch is sponsoring a hard-hitting paid advertising campaign targeted to ChevronTexaco’s hometown San Ramon community, including a mobile billboard, movie slides in a local theater and TV spots slated to air on CNN, MSNBC, MTV, Nickelodeon and Fox News Channel.
The mobile billboard implores, “ChevronTexaco: Please clean up Ecuador. Before another life is lost.” The movie slide features photos of a young child with crude oil on the bottoms of his feet and an oil-slicked waste pit, together with a “classified” ad:
“WANTED: Indigenous community in Ecuadorian rainforest seeks oncologist to treat escalating number of cancer patients.”
The 30-second TV spot features the driver of a Texaco oil tanker blasting oil on a white, suburban family. The voice-over reads:
“There’s a company in San Ramon that’s trying to escape its dirty past – ChevronTexaco.
It’s hard to imagine ChevronTexaco coming to your home and polluting your family’s yard like you’re about to see.
But, this is what ChevronTexaco did to thousands of rainforest people in Ecuador.
For years they dumped billions of gallons of toxic oil waste in Ecuador’s rivers and lakes, tainting the drinking water with toxins.
Imagine if they did that in your neighborhood.”
The Delegation Schedule
While in San Ramon, the delegation will be engaged in activities to educate the community about ChevronTexaco’s Ecuadorian operations and their toxic legacy. A full schedule of public activities may be found on www.chevrontoxico.com.
Activities include:
_ Speaking at the San Ramon City Council Meeting
_ Presentations at San Ramon public schools and area colleges
_ Presentations at local churches
_ “Wakeup Call” for David O’Reilly and other key executives
_ Leafleting outside ChevronTexaco
_ Protests at Chevron Service Stations
_ Musical performances outside of cultural events sponsored by ChevronTexaco.
Petition Drive
In addition, the Ecuadorian rainforest people will go door-to-door to secure the support of San Ramon residents for a petition urging ChevronTexaco to treat the residents of the rainforest with the same respect and dignity that the company affords its neighbors in the Tri-Valley:
Dear Mr. O’Reilly,
We, the undersigned residents of San Ramon and its nearby communities, support the efforts of the indigenous peoples and campesinos of Ecuador to seek clean up of the environmental damage left behind by ChevronTexaco from its 28 years of operation in the rainforest of the northern Ecuadorian Amazon.
We urge you and the management of ChevronTexaco to treat the Ecuadorian communities affected by the company’s operations in Ecuador with the same respect that we, as the company’s neighbors, are treated in San Ramon. Just as the company would never dump toxic wastewater on the community of San Ramon, the company should have never dumped toxic wastewater in the fragile ecosystem of the Ecuadorian rainforest where thousands of people live.
We urge ChevronTexaco to live up to its core values to be a responsible steward of the environment and clean up the damage it left behind in Ecuador.
For Further Information:
Please contact Andy Morris (917-710-1802) or Leila Salazar (310-420-7575).
