Ecuador's Chernoybl

 Texaco's 30 years in Ecuador was like a war on the environment.  Decades after drilling in the Amazon, the oil production waste Texaco left behind continues to sicken Indigenous communities.  The allegations by Indigenous Ecuadorians for environmental justice  say Texaco (later acquired by Chevron) deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into hundreds of uncovered, unlined pits that now dot over a million acres.  Texaco has admitted to dumping 15.8 billion gallons.  There was better technology at the time that may have prevented some of the environmental contamination, but Texaco chose not to use it.

Texaco saved billions of dollars by dumping its oily waste into unlined pits and leaving it there.  They dumped on sites next to homes, adjacent to drinking water wells, and uphill from rivers and streams locals relied on for bathing and fishing.  Indigenous residents say the contamination decimated the natural environment.  Crops no longer yielded harvest, fish stocks vanished, as did the lush foliage of the rainforest.  The effects on the local residents showed shockingly high rates of cancer, miscarriage and other diseases associated with oil contamination. 

Decades later, little as changed.  Residents still suffer from high rates of respiratory illnesses, diabetes, and other oil-related health conditions.

I learned about this when I listened to a podcast about Steven Donziger, the American attorney who led the legal team that sued Chevron in Ecuadorian court, and won.  Yet he so far has served 800 days under house arrest.  How he ended up under house arrest is a Kafkaesque story that no one would believe.  I urge you to google Steven Donziger and hear his story.  You won't believe it.  It appears his arrest is retribution for his lawsuit against Chevron (formerly Texaco) that he won in court after court.  How he ended up under house arrest is truly terrifying.  

How is it that I (and probably you) never heard about this disaster, worse than the grounding of the Exxon Valdez and the sinking of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico?  I don't know how this escaped my attention, but I am so happy to hear about it now.  Unfortunately large corporations put profits above all else.  We need to punish companies that do this.