The Campaign for Justice in Ecuador

By Emma Vowels

Please view the 15 minute documentary on the Chevron Ecuador disaster.
The film can be found here: http://chevrontoxico.com/. It is worth watching and gives a great overview of the issue in Ecuador.


       There is any obvious theme in environmental justice of under developed countries being taken advantage of by huge international corporations. With a lack of environmental laws and infrastructure, these emerging countries receive the wrath of industries which often are the biggest environmental polluters. I blogged about this previously in the case of Bhopal, India. I was shocked to learn of a similar horror, Chevron's oil drilling in Ecuador. 
     The Lago Agrio oil field was discovered in Ecuador in the 1960s. Shortly thereafter, Chevron (then called parent company, Texaco), began full scale production of oil exportation. Chevron's method of oil extraction lead to devastating deforestation, soil pollution and water pollution. As the video explains, Chevron did not use the same safety methods to reduce toxic pollution it uses in the United States. Instead, toxic byproducts of oil sludge and contaminated water were dumped directly into Ecuador's rivers and streams, near areas of indigenous villages. Chevron's perspective of environmental racism is clear in the absolute disregard they showed towards the health and lifestyle of native people. They did not value them the same as American people and recognized the community as one which would be vulnerable and unable to resist Chevron's deadly plans. The indigenous people of Ecuador have had both their health and their culture stripped from them. Due to carcinogens in the polluted water, there has been a 150% increase in cancer cases in the region. 
      In 1993, lawyers of the indigenous community sued Chevron for its damages to the environment and the people's health. The case was dismissed at that time, but since then numerous law suits have been made. After many trials, Chevron was ordered to compensate with $27 billion. Chevron received an injunction by a federal judge so they did not have to pay. Most recently, in September of 2011, Chevron's injunction was overturned. 
      With the Chevron case going back and forth, the people of Ecuador are still without safe natural resources to sustain their livelihood. Chevron has done little to clean up the now toxic areas, and Ecuadorians continue to suffer gravely for the petroleum industry. 

Video from:http://chevrontoxico.com/
Reference from:http://www.texacotoxico.org/eng/
Reference from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_Agrio_oil_field
First Image from: http://thechevronpit.blogspot.com/2011/12/chevrons-silence-screams-guilt.html
Second Image from: http://reverendbuki.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/rg-22.jpg?w=300&h=199