>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 TexacoUs 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 TexacoUs
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 TexacoUs board
chairman Alfred C. De Crane Jr., expressing their indignation
at the companyUs 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 companyUs
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