>From July 5-9, 1993, a series of factfinding visits and public forums were
held in Ecuador to draw attention to the cumulative impacts of Texaco's
twenty years of operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon. During Texaco Week,
Indigenous peoples' organizations, including the coordination of Indian
organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the national Indian organization
(CONAIE) and regional organizations including CONFENIAE and FCUNAE, joined
with environmental groups forming part of the Amazonia for Life Campaign in
charging Texaco with contaminating the Ecuadorian rainforest, and with
irresponsibility in not taking actions to clean up their mess.
The coalition has called for an international boycott of Texaco products,
and they have initiated a study of the socio-environmental impacts of
Texaco's work.
These measures, and the call for actions in the campaign to pressure Texaco,
are considered urgent, since a report commissioned by Texaco in
collaboration with the Ecuadorian government will be released in September.
The report is expected to whitewash the issue of Texaco's pollution.
The following is a summary of the facts surrounding the Texaco case,
including a call to action as part of the international campaign to pressure
Texaco:
After 20 years of polluting the Ecuadorian rainforest to exploit its oil
reserves, Texaco pulled out of the country last year, turning over to the
Ecuadorian government their oil facilities as well as serious environmental
problems that will persist for generations. In response to a public outcry,
the government of Ecuador ordered an environmental audit of Texaco. The
proceedings of this investigation, scheduled to be completed in September,
have been withheld from the public and are available only to Texaco, the
Ecuadorian state oil company, Petroecuador and the Ministry of Energy and
Mines. Indications are that the Canadian company responsible for the
audit, HBT Agra, is severely limiting its inquiry, following threats from
Texaco that they would cooperate only if narrow parameters were used for
investigating their environmental record. For example, the victims of
Texaco's pollution, Indigenous peoples and farmers in the Amazon, are not
being interviewed by the company.
With four U.S.-based corporations descending upon the Ecuadorian forest to
start up new oil projects, it is crucial that we hold Texaco responsible for
cleaning up its mess. If not, others will follow suit. The impacts of
Texaco's presence has been well documented:
% 30 major oil spills dumping seventeen million
gallons of crude oil into the river systems of the
Amazon (50% more than the Exxon Valdez disaster);
% Discharges of 20 billion gallons of toxic
chemicals;
% Hundreds of toxic waste ponds abandoned;
% Construction of a network of roads causing the
colonization and deforestation of nearly 2,500,000
acres of tropical rainforests, displacing Quichua,
Cofan, and Huaorani Native peoples;
% Health effects among Indigenous peoples and small
farmers, including malnutrition caused by pollution of
fishing grounds, headaches, skin and gastrointestinal
illnesses, and cancer.
An international campaign is underway to open up the discussion of the
environmental impacts of Texaco's operations--and to hold them responsible
for cleaning up their mess in the Ecuadorian rainforest. A boycott of
Texaco products is underway in Norway, and actions against Texaco have taken
place in England, Denmark, and Holland.
In May, a new coalition of environmental and human rights groups in the U.S.
which work in support of indigenous peoples of the Amazon sent a letter to
Texaco's board chairman Alfred C. De Crane Jr., expressing their
indignation at the company's recalcitrance. General Coordinator Valerio
Grefa, of the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon
Basin (COICA), told the environmental coalition:
Texaco has set a bad example. If we do not establish a clear precedent
placing responsibility on them for the damage they have caused, we
will have in the future a school for similar bad treatment by other
companies in the Ecuadorian Amazon and in other countries throughout
the world.
What you can do:
Stop purchasing Texaco products. Cut your Texaco credit
card in half and mail it to Alfred C. De Crane, Jr. CEO of
Texaco along with a letter written on toilet paper (suggested
text follows):
Dear Mr. De Crane
I have cut my Texaco Card in half and refuse to
purchase your products until Texaco cleans up their mess in
the Ecuadorian Amazon. The inquiry into your company's
activities must be open to public scrutiny, and an impartial
and independent investigation must be undertaken. Texaco
should clean up the Amazon environment it has been
polluting for the past twenty years. Where clean up is not
possible, the company should provide full indemnification to
the individuals and communities affected by its operations.
Health care programs and clean drinking water should also
be provided. I urge Texaco to repair the leaky oil tanks and
corroded pipelines they abandoned, and to install injection
wells and pollution controls to avoid further environmental
disasters in the future.
Address:
Mr. Alfred C. De Crane Jr.
Chairman and CEO
Texaco Inc.
2000 Westchester Ave.
White Plains NY 10650
fax: (914) 253-7753
Join the campaign to pressure Texaco. For more information
contact Glen Switkes at Rainforest Action Network,
450 Sansome St., Suite 700, San Francisco CA 94111, USA
Tel: (415) 398-4404 Fax: (415) 398-2732 e-mail: en.rainforest
or Paulina Garzon, Campana Amazonia por la Vida,
Lerida 380 y Pontevedra, Quito Ecuador.
Tel: (593) 2-526-994 Fax: (593) 2-547-516