Chevron (Texaco) seriously polluted the Ecuadorian Amazon for 25 years. Erin Brockovich defends Steven Donziger, the lawyer who defeated the oil companies in court – only to face retribution.
By Erin Brockovich, The Guardian
Most people have probably heard of Chernobyl, or the BP oil spill. You may also know about my legal battle over contaminated water in California, dramatized in the movie Erin Brockovich. Yet far fewer people have heard about what transpired in the Ecuadorian Amazon – though it’s considered by some activists, journalists, and members of US Congress to be one of the world’s worst environmental disasters.
What if I told you that a multinational oil company allegedly polluted the Amazon for almost three decades? And that the oil company has spent even more years refusing to accept liability? Or that a US attorney (Steven Donziger) who agreed to represent thousands of Ecuadorian villagers in a lawsuit against that oil company has lost his law license, income, spent hundreds of days under house arrest in New York, and in 2021 was sentenced to six months in prison?
From 1964 to 1990, Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, allegedly spilled more than 16m gallons of crude oil – “80 times more oil than was spilled in BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster”, according to Gizmodo – and 18bn gallons of polluted wastewater in the Amazon rainforest. The pollution allegedly contaminated the ground and waterways with toxic chemicals that the plaintiffs – mostly Indigenous people and poor farmers – say has caused cancer, miscarriages, skin conditions and birth defects. (Chevron has said that Texaco’s operations were “completely in line with the standards of the day” and told the New Yorker, in 2012, that “there is no corroborating evidence” for the health allegations.)
Recent Posts
Voter Suppression Is On the Rise Heading Into 2024 Elections
March 27, 2024
Take Action Now Voter suppression laws and intimidation are already creating obstacles to primary participation. by Sravya Tadepalli, Prism As the…
Will Biden’s Bellicose Rhetoric Lead Us To War?
March 27, 2024
Take Action Now The U.S., Russia, and China must engage in serious diplomacy now. Name calling and personal insults do nothing for the peace effort.…
Cut Off War Funds By Stopping The Congressional Discharge Petition
March 27, 2024
Take Action Now The McGovern Petition is a tool for funding Israel’s genocide and puts us on the road to nuclear omnicide. By John V. Walsh,…
Ireland Preparing To Intervene In South Africa’s International Court Of Justice Case Against Israel Under The 1948 Genocide Convention
March 27, 2024
Take Action Now Earlier this week, the Tánaiste called Israel’s announcement that it would block all UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aid to the…