ChevronTexaco Still Refuses to Clean Up Its Mess in the Amazon

"ChevronTexaco does not deny it dumped formation waters, but says that the resulting contamination causes no harm and that it is not responsible for any clean-up in light of a remediation it conducted at some of its pits in the mid-1990s."
-Amazon Defense Coalition

February 4, 2008 —

Between 1970 and 1992, Texaco — now a subsidiary of Chevron — is alleged to have dumped 18.5 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon. Evidence of this dumping is still visible today, as oil waste seeps from the ground and collects on top of streams at the dumping sites. Aside from the damage this dumping has exacted on the ecosystem of the Amazon, the indigenous population that lives in the area has been suffering from an extremely high incidence of cancer in recent decades, with little money and few resources to treat their ill.

For more than a decade now, Texaco has denied all culpability in the dumping, stalling the largest environmental class action lawsuit in history and refusing to offer a settlement that would the allow the sick to pay for treatment. When Chevron took over Texaco in 2002, it maintained this policy.

Justica Now!, a short film featuring Darryl Hannah, documents the fight that is going on to this day to hold ChevronTexaco accountable for these crimes. If you needed another reason to avoid Chevron stations like the plague, here it is.