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A Leak in the Ecuadorian Oil Adventure: K N Aaen

POSTED BY: Howard
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 17:02
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HOWARD

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 5:02 PM

A Leak in the Ecuadorian Oil Adventure
by Karoline Nolsø Aaen
October 24, 2005
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=8987

Upside Down World:

While rivers are being polluted, rainforests cut down and the health of citizens severely threatened by the oil industry, this black gold continues to flow through Ecuador. I am in the northern part of the Ecuadorian Amazon, visiting oil fields and researching the contamination of rivers, soil and forest in order to gain insight into what problems confront the Amazon. The area is ruined. Where there were once primary rain forests there are now oil plants, oil roads and a myriad of pipelines.

At several places, my driver and guide keeps the engine of the 4WD running, in case the military or security guards spot us and we need to leave. Armed with cameras and admonitions to quickly return to the vehicle, I crawl across a hill to survey yet another oil plant where hundreds of small and large pipelines lead oil, gas and wastewater to and from the oil station.

In the Upper Oriente, oil exploration, alone, has led to the deforestation of approximately two million hectares (20.000km) of rain forest. Here, history demonstrates that between 400-2400 hectares of rainforest are colonized for every kilometer of new oil road built.

"We would like to inform the rest of the world about the consequences of oil production for us," tells Fidel Aguinda, the coordinator of the Young Cofan Indians.

The Cofanes were especially exposed to oil contamination and lack of land during the Texaco era and many communities have been completely demolished.

"We would like to tell foreign countries but it’s just as important to inform other youngsters in Ecuador about what the oil industry causes our culture", he says.

Black experience

Since the beginning of the oil era in 1971, the oil industry in Ecuador has had free rein. The international and national oil companies operate without control or inspection by the authorities. The industry owns approximately 18 percent of the Ecuadorian mainland.

This is very disturbing when you consider that Texaco (now ChevronTexaco), the first operating oil company in the country, dumped at least 460 million barrels of oil and chemical wastewater during the 20 years of the company’s oil extraction. The results of this criminal pollution have been contaminated water, loss of plant and wildlife, as well as health problems for the local population, such as rising cancer-rates, birth defects and miscarriages.

According to local residents, Texaco hasn’t paid to clean up the damage it had done to the local environment. Yet, the company insists that it had in fact paid when it spent $40 million in 1995 as part of a deal it cut with the Ecuadorian government.

There is currently a lawsuit working its way through Ecuador’s court system to settle the dispute. The case, filed on behalf of 30,000 local residents, is seeking $6 billion in damages. Despite overwhelming evidence, the outcome is still unknown since there are no Ecuadorian rules or guidelines concerning oil contamination and clean ups. In the meantime, Petroecuador, the state-owned oil company, has maintained the working procedures of Texaco and continues to direct highly toxic wastewater to the rivers and ecosystem of the Amazon in the Upper Oriente.

Catastrophe, Cancer and Corruption

Wastewater from oil production contains a high variety of chemicals, ph-controls, heavy metals and other toxins. The highly polluted wastewater is dumped into open wastewater ponds before entering the waterways. Gases and waste oil are burned off from either chimneys or directly from the ponds. The salinity of the wastewater is up to 6 times higher than the concentration in the Pacific Ocean and with the content of heavy metals and chemicals it is tantamount to pure poison to vegetation and wildlife. According to a 2003 study conducted by the Ecuadorian NGO Acción Ecologica, content of harmful hydrocarbons (TPH) in rivers was measured to 2,9ppm. The European Union on