Chevron, Clean Up Your Mess in the Amazon!
by Carri Pence | July 4, 2010 at 2:18 PM
Over a 20-year period, Texaco dumped 19 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the Amazon rainforest. It's one of the world's most egregious environmental disasters.
Demand that Chevron, which acquired Texaco, addresses environmental and health concerns in the Amazon
Between 1972 and 1992, Texaco and Petroecuador extracted over 1.4 billion barrels of oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon. At the same time, Texaco systematically dumped billions of gallons of toxic wastewaters into open, unlined pits, waterways and wetlands. The waste contaminated water, killed wildlife and wreaked havoc on important native ecosystems.
When Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001, the new company became accountable for all of Texaco's liabilities. Much like BP's Gulf of Mexico spill, fragile ecosystems have been decimated and biodiversity threatened.
Because Texaco contaminated the groundwater and soil, harmful effects spanned the entire ecosystem, including endangering the lives of more than 125,000 indigenous men, women and children who drink, bathe, fish and wash their clothes in tainted headwaters of the Amazon River.
Chevron is responsible for endangering one of the most biologically-diverse areas on the planet, but they also violated basic human rights to health, sanitation and a clean environment.
The company can play a role in transforming the Amazon, but it must start now.
Demand Chevron's Board of Directors respond to environmental and health concerns in Ecuador
Chevron cannot ignore its corporate responsibility to clean up the Amazon any longer. Every day that passes, the Amazon is becoming more poisoned with the leftover contaminants of Texaco's toxic legacy.
Please help us convince Chevron's Board of Directors to answer for its toxic legacy.
