Amazon Watch campaigners report from Ecuador region devastated by Chevron oil spills

The Oriente – the East – is Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest region, home to unparalleled biological diversity, as well as the country’s oil patch and massive contamination left behind by decades of oil operations by Texaco (now Chevron). Amazon Watch’s Ecuador campaign team is on a brief field research mission in the Oriente, and today was a full day investigating former Chevron oil well sites, abandoned toxic waste pits, and visiting with community members affected by oil pollution. We’re basing out of oil boom town Lago Agrio – “sour lake” – named for Sour Lake, Texas where Texaco was founded. Beginning as a base camp for Texaco, Lago Agrio is in the center of what used to be the Amazon rainforest in northeast Ecuador, only about a dozen miles from the Colombian border. Today was only our first day out in the field on this visit, inspecting oil extraction sites and contamination, shooting photos and video, and conducting interviews and research. We’re here for the next week and while we have a busy schedule, we’ll try to report back here about some of the places we discover, some of the people we encounter, and some of the stories we hear. We started off the day with a brief visit to Pablo Fajardo, lead attorney for the 30,000 people who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit demanding full clean-up by Chevron of its contamination in the region, as well as compensation for the horrific impact the company’s legacy has had – and continues to have – on the lives and livelihoods of the affected communities. Sitting in his office, he was dwarfed by a portion of the legal documents from the 17-year legal battle to hold Chevron accountable. After leaving Lago Agrio, our first stop this morning was Chevron/Texaco’s fifth exploratory oil well site, so-called Lago Agrio #5, or Lago cinco. We checked out a waste pit that Chevron claims was remediated, and dug up black, gunky petroleum from only a couple feet beneath the surface of the ground. Sadly, it also came up with a bunch of water as the water table is very high here, with tons of rain, and primarily sandy, permeable earth. We met a couple who lives mere yards from the pit and who told of various health problems that ail their family and neighbors. We then took a trip to the second well drilled by Texaco/Chevron, called Lago Agrio #2, or Lago dos. There, we investigated another of the toxic waste pits that Texaco claims to have remediated, finding more crude just beneath the surface, abandoned to leech into the groundwater of people living nearby. There, our friend and guide, Donald Moncayo, explained how he was born only a few yards from the spot where he dug his auger into the ground to pull up the toxins. In fact, the waste pit was on his family’s land. With a furrowed brow, Donald told us how his mother died after bathing in a polluted stream. A tumor on her back suddenly became unbearably painful and horribly inflamed only hours after coming into contact with the toxic water. As she became gravely ill, the family summoned a local doctor who rushed over. Shocked, he told Donald’s mother, “you’ve been poisoned.” She succumbed within hours. Donald had two brothers – twins – who died five months apart while still babies. His adult sister had an operation in 2006 for a brain tumor and is still undergoing chemotherapy in Quito. …

Field Report: Amazon Watch Campaigners in Ecuadorean Region Devastated by Chevron