Crude- Chevron/Texaco in Ecuador

Crude is a documentary that premiered in 2009 covering one of the most epic and controversial lawsuits in history. It is about "big oil and little people", little people meaning about 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorians, and big oil meaning Chevron. Although little, the indigenous people from these Amazonian communities are amazingly inspiring, courageous, and moving.

So here's a little background on Ecuador:
The country is a representative democratic republic, and their current president is the ever so popular Rafael Correa. They're bordered by Colombia, Peru, and the Pacific Ocean. A fun fact: their 2008 constitution made them the first country in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights (I'll probably discuss that further at some point). 
They have three main geographical regions: 
1. The coast (la costa)-the land in the western part of the country, including the Pacific coastline
2. The highlands (la tierra)- the high-altitude belt running north-south along the center of the country, also including its mountainous terrain dominated by the Andes mountain range.
3. The Amazon (el oriente)- The Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the country, accounting for just under half of the country's total surface area, though populated by less than 5% of the population.

The Amazonian region of the country is inhabited by ~30,000 indigenous peoples. So what is the connection with Chevron/Texaco? Well, from 1972 to 1993, Texaco (now Chevron) operated development of the Lago Agrio oil field in the Amazonian region.  Chevron is one of the world's 6 "supermajor" oil companies. It's an American multinational energy corporation that is engaged in literally every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries. This includes: exploration and production, refining, marketing, transport, chemicals manufacturing and sales, and power generation.

So, what happened? Ecuadorian farmers and indigenous residents accused Texaco of making residents ill and damaging forests and rivers by discharging 18 billion US gallons of formation water into the rainforest, without any remediation. 

They sued Chevron for extensive environmental damage caused by these operations, which have sickened thousands of Ecuadorians and polluted the Amazon rainforest.

Lets talk about the lawsuit. In 1993, a group of Ecuadorean natives sued Chevron's predecessor in Manhattan federal court, claiming that Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic oil waste into the water supply of the Amazon, wrecking the environment and spreading disease. Eight years later, Texaco - newly acquired by Chevron - claimed the American courts had no jurisdiction over the case and successfully removed the case to a provincial court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.

Throughout the many phases of litigation, Texaco and Chevron have blamed the state-owned Petroecuador for the spills while denying and downplaying the scope of the damage. But I mean it didn't really matter, because what Ecuadorian court is going to find an enormous multinational oil company guiltyby ruling in favor of indigenous groups? Well that is exactly what happened. 

On 15 February 2011, a court in Ecuador fined Chevron $8.6 billion for refusing to issue and apology and $9.5 billion in remediation costs for pollution to the country's Amazon region by Texaco between 1972 and 1992, with campaigners claiming loss of crops and farm animals as well as increased local cancer rates.

This was the  first time that indigenous people have successfully sued a multinational corporation in the country where the pollution took place. That is huge! But of course, there is a downside. 

Chevron described the lawsuit as an "extortion scheme" and refused to pay the fine. They have literally vowed to never pay (biiiiiiig surprise). Since they have no international obligation to pay, and no assets in Ecuador for the government to seize, what can they really do? And although the Ecuadorians expressed happiness that Chevron was declared guilty, they also expressed dismay that the awarded money would not be enough to make up for the damage caused by the oil company (they initially sued for a greater amount). 

This is the type of shit that drives me crazy. I don't only have a degree in environmental science but also Latin American studies and Spanish, so naturally I'm aware of problems like these. But I believe this is the sort of issue and injustice that everyone should be aware of.  Companies can't get away with shit like this. This case was monumental and noteworthy because it set a precedent for multinational corporations that think they can enter a foreign country, pollute the hell out of it, destroy lives, and then leave without any remediation or consequences.  This lawsuit says enough is enough. Poverty stricken people in developing nations are no longer going to allow it, and if you choose to ignore them, you will be punished. 

Nonprofit organization Amazon Watch (AW) described the outcome of the case as "unprecedented". AW was founded in 1996 and is based out of San Francisco, CA. It works to protect the rain forest and the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin. It also partners with indigenous and environmental organizations in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Brazil in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems. 

Chevron has issued two Ecuadorian appeals, and an appeal in the U.S., which have all been unsuccessful. They have recently issued yet ANOTHER appeal arguing that an appellate court based its ruling on “fraudulent” evidence (bullshit). Who knows if they will ever pay, but here is a link to one of the most recent articles covering the latest appeal: http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=464455&CategoryId=10718. 

I hope everyone gets a chance to see the documentary mentioned above, I promise it is worth it. These aren't the only people who have been exploited bye multinational corporations, they are simply the first who successfully took a stand against it. There are still thousands of people suffering environmental and health consequences odue to exploitation by big business. These are the type of people who need all the support they can get. 

"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools." - John Muir