A judge in Ecuador will decide the case by the end of 2009, after years of building tensions and accusations between the plaintiffs and Chevron/Texaco. Charges include that Texaco did not sufficiently clean up waste from oil production and that the resulting contamination has had serious impacts on community health. A report by a court-appointed team last year concluded that pollution caused mainly by Texaco’s Ecuadoran affiliate, Texaco Petroleum, had led to 1,401 cancer deaths in this stretch of Amazonian jungle. The team’s leader, Ecuadoran geologist Richard Cabrera, reported finding high levels of toxins in soil and water samples near Texaco’s production sites. Read Washington Post article about the case here and New York Times article here.
Chevron has denied the charges, stating that the case is a ‘farce’. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle: “We feel confident that we’ll ultimately prevail,” said Chevron general counsel Charles James in a telephone interview from the company’s San Ramon headquarters. “Even if they get a bogus decree out of a court in Ecuador, their ability to enforce this is going to be very limited. We would contest enforcement based on the poor [legal] process.”
Greengrants has supported this drawn-out legal case with several small grants that enabled the Amazon Defense Coalition, the organization organizing the plaintiffs, to collect evidence and distribute information, and to help indigenous communities monitor the impacts of the oil industry. Up against extraordinary odds and a powerful and deep-pocketed corporation, the leaders of this case have demonstrated incredible persistence and patience in building the case against Chevron. They have been the target of intimidation and death threats. The approaching final ruling on this case—no matter what the outcome—is testament to the critical importance of ensuring that vulnerable communities’ rights are protected and demonstrates the grave injustices that they face in advocating for the health of their lands, waters, and health.
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