“Our people have borne the brunt of oil extraction – the contamination, the health problems, the loss of our territories. But today we bring the voices of our people to call attention to the environmental and human rights crisis that we are suffering,” said Jhajayra Machoa, youth leader of CONFENIAE and member of the A’i Cofán nationality. “Our leaders and families have faced threats, persecution, and been killed for opposing oil extraction. We are looking for California to be a climate leader, take responsibility, and take action.”
Last week, Amazon Watch led a powerful delegation of Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon to California to bring a message the state could no longer ignore. Representing some of the most biodiverse and threatened territories on Earth, they came demanding accountability and seeking solidarity from one of the largest economies in the world and one of the biggest consumers of Amazonian oil: California.
In a historic moment, the California State Senate honored the delegation and introduced Senate Resolution 51 (SR 51), calling on the state to “investigate the impact of California’s role in the consumption of crude sourced from the Amazon region and explore ways that changes to state policies and practices can assist with efforts to preserve and protect the Amazon rainforest.” Introduced by Senator Josh Becker, SR 51 is not just a symbolic gesture, but a first-of-its-kind legislative acknowledgment of California’s complicity in the destruction of the Amazon. It is also a call to change course.
“Their communities are on the front lines asserting their rights and resisting oil extraction. They are defenders of a living rainforest that stores carbon, regulates the global climate, and sustains life,” Senator Becker stated. “California can and must do better.”
Chevron’s Richmond refinery, just 70 miles from the State Capitol, is among the importers of Amazon crude, refining oil drilled in Indigenous territories like Yasuní and the northern Ecuadorian Amazon already devastated by Chevron’s deliberate dumping. The visit by the delegation – composed of three leaders from the A’i Cofán, Kichwa, and Waorani Nations, and regional Indigenous federations – underscored how this trade fuels violations of Indigenous rights and accelerates climate collapse.
To coincide with the visit, Amazon Watch released a new report, Drilling Toward Disaster: Amazon Crude and Ecuador’s Oil Gamble, which details how Ecuador’s plan to auction off 14 new oil blocks in its southern Amazon directly threatens Indigenous territories and violates both domestic and international law. The report links exploration in these blocks to known ecological risks and highlights how California’s continued demand for Amazon crude fuels this expansion. Importantly, the new report, delegation, and recognition of the Indigenous leaders at the California Senate was covered by the Associated Press and stories ran in the LA Times as well as NBC News.
“This report lays bare the legal and moral failure underpinning Amazon oil extraction,” said Amazon Watch’s Ecuador Legal Advisor Nathaly Yepez, who accompanied the delegation and also co-authored the report. “What’s at stake is not just crude or profit – it’s the systematic violation of Indigenous rights, ancestral territories, and climate stability that the world relies on to survive. California – and any society that consumes this oil – must reckon with its complicity and act urgently: demand justice for Indigenous peoples, halt expansion into the rainforest, and end the plunder of our shared home.”
At the center of the crisis is Yasuní National Park – one of the most biodiverse places on the planet – where a grassroots referendum ordered an end to oil drilling in Block 43. The citizens of Ecuador overwhelmingly approved the measure in 2023, but President Noboa’s administration has not only refused to halt operations but is doubling down by moving forward with the upcoming oil round.
The report warns of serious threats to biodiversity, Indigenous rights, and the Amazon’s flying rivers – massive air currents that carry moisture across South America, help prevent droughts, and play a key role in keeping the global climate stable. Without them, disasters like the fires in Los Angeles this January could become more common.
The delegation joined local activists at Chevron’s Richmond refinery on the San Francisco Bay, paddling kayaks near oil tankers to bear witness to the frontline struggles in California and its links to the Amazon. For the delegates, it was their first time seeing where the crude oil extracted from their lands ends up – and who profits from its processing.
“California is complicit in violating our rights by continuing to consume crude that our courts and voters have said must stay in the ground,” stated Juan Bay, President of the Waorani Indigenous Nation of Ecuador (NAWE). “We are calling on California to take action to phase out its imports of oil that has come at a high price for our forests, our peoples, and our climate.”
California remains a top consumer of Amazonian oil. That fact alone makes the state uniquely positioned to change the equation. Phasing out these imports would not only strike at the economic logic of extraction but set a precedent for environmental justice and climate leadership around the world.
Studies suggest that California can get off of Amazon crude and respect the laws that limit toxic exposure that affects communities near refineries and extraction, and without hurting pocketbooks of consumers – if refineries actually produced the gasoline that California consumes in state instead of exporting it for profit to its neighbors like Arizona and Nevada.
Amazon Watch’s ongoing campaign, “End Amazon Crude” is now focused on mobilizing grassroots support across California. Activists are calling on state legislators to pass SR 51 and on Governor Newsom to take executive action to end California’s reliance on rainforest-destroying crude and reign in rogue refineries that instead of producing crude to meet California demand, export crude for profit to neighboring states at expense of fenceline communities. Simultaneously, messages are being sent to Ecuador’s government, demanding respect for the 2023 referendum and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the cancellation of the forthcoming oil round intended to auction new oil blocks in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon.
Take action to keep Amazon crude in the ground!
“Ecuador’s new oil auction is a direct threat to our territories. After 60 years of extraction, we’ve seen only death and destruction – not development,” said Nadino Calapucha, representative of the Kichwa PAKKIRU organization. ”We’re here to build solidarity with Californians impacted by the same oil, and to call on the state to stop fueling demand and support a just transition that protects communities on both ends of the supply chain.”
The stakes could not be higher. As the Amazon tips closer to ecological collapse, and as climate disasters grow more frequent and severe, the path forward requires courage from governments, solidarity from the public, and leadership from those who have defended the forest for generations. The delegation’s visit to California marked a watershed moment – one that can ignite the kind of transnational change our future depends on.
California now faces a choice: will it continue to profit from Amazon destruction, or will it help lead the way to keep the oil in the ground?
