Amazon Natives in Ecuador Get Dumped On Again Written by Dave Lincoln

When I worked for Texaco in 1974, they paraded their successes in Ecuador for all the employees and stockholders and they were particularly pleased with the contracts they negotiated with the Corporacion Estatal Petrolera Ecuatoriana (CEPE), a predecessor of PetroEcuador. At the time, it was one of their most profitable ventures.

The full impacts on the Oriente people and environment from oil and Produced Water discharged at these fields has never fully been revealed. This understanding is made even more difficult because Chevron/Texaco defers to consultant reports rather than releasing its own original data. Simultaneously, they challenge the integrity of every lawyer who dares to attach his reputation to the case and they challenge every piece of evidence even it was produced by their own company.

Despite these obstacles, a few details have emerged which can shed some light on these controversies. Texaco certainly constructed more than 600 pits for the separation and disposal of oily Produced Water. The area receives between 2000 mm and 4000 mm (6.5 feet to 13 feet) of rainfall per year, so when these pits flood or overflow, the hydrocarbons are released directly into the river and streams. The geography and ecology of the Lago Agrio region also contribute primarily to the intensity of the environmental damage. The water table in the Amazonian basin is very high, this means that the average depth at which drinking water is found underground is significantly less than that of other nations and ecological regions. As a result, seepage of waste waters and discharged oil results in the direct contamination of regional drinking water, rivers, and wells. Contaminated water and oil can permeate the aquifers through fractures or through the underground beds of sand, gravel, or porous rock that store water.

Court documents have claimed that the risk of excess cancers for people who chronically drank from and bathed in oil contaminated waters ranged from 12-1000 cases per million persons.

A Texaco Audit of Practices between 1964-1990 produced by the consultant Fugro-McClelland in 1992 (which examined only half of the wells and about 30 miles of the pipeline) found that approximately half of the well pits contained crude oil in them. Various degrees of crude oil contamination existed on many of the sites audited. Hydrocarbon contamination was also observed at the production facilities of the two largest fields Sacha and Shushufindi.

Another Environmental Audit and Assessment produced by consultants HGT AGRA in 1993 found wellsite spills had occurred at more than 150 of the 163 assessed sites. Thirty-nine of produced fluid spills originated along a flowline. Thirteen of these spills had migrated off-site. In addition, more than 125 open or closed well site pits contained oily waste. The oily waste was apparently confined within about 50 of the pits, while evidence of seepage was noted at nearly 70 of the pits. Four facilities at Sacha Field (Sacha Central, Sacha Sur, Sacha Norte 1 and Sacha Norte 2) all but Sacha Norte 2 had large accumulations of crude oil (Greater than 95%) in their final stage pits [Pits that discharge directly to a surface water feature].

Gas is burned off at a separation station outside the town of Shushufindi.

Photo by Lou Dematteis, courtesy of Amazon Watch

At Shushufindi, the largest pit measured over 10,000 sq. ft and even after passing through two separation pits the final stage pit still had over half covered with oil. Produced water flow diagrams show that of the 15 pits used at the four production facilities, 13 had 100% oil covering the surface when audited.

Undoubtedly, hydrocarbons in soils represent a potentially long-term exposure to hydrocarbons. During the original audits contamination of soil and water was seen throughout the concession. It was observed at well sites, production stations, flowlines, and secondary pipelines and along roadways.

So, the evidence is clear that Chevron/Texaco polluted the Amazon rainforest with obsolete equipment and methods. It doesn't matter if the government oil company continued to pollute using the poorly designed system that Chevron/Texaco left behind.

Their best defense then proved to be the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) designed to punish racketeering. This may be the first time that a multi-national corporation sued a country for racketeering and got away with it.

Full Disclosure: I was employed as a Geologist by Texaco in New Orleans from 1974 to 1976. I was also deposed as a witness for the plaintiffs by Chevron in 2007. My testimony related to this litigation, but it was determined that the statute of limitations had expired.

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