Oxy faces lawsuit threat over Amazon toxins

Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon are warning the US oil giant Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) that it could soon face a lawsuit in the United States if it fails to clean up toxic waste in their tropical rainforest. A new report charges that Oxy's operations for three decades on the border between Peru and Ecuador have caused indigenous Achuar children to suffer from high concentrations of lead and cadmium in their blood, believed to cause serious developmental problems. Previous studies by the Peruvian government have made similar findings. "We have told Oxy this week that they must talk with us in good faith about how they are going to clean up the toxic waste they left in our rainforest," said spiritual elder Tomas Maynas Carijano, one of the potential plaintiffs. "We have waited too long already." "If Oxy doesn't respond satisfactorily and soon, I, along with other Achuar, am prepared to sue them for the damages they have caused us," he added. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles-based company contested the allegations and said in an interview that Oxy is not aware of any health problems as a result of its operations. He also said that Oxy hasn't had active operations in the region since late 1999. The new developments come as the company held its shareholder meeting on May 4. Two Achuar leaders, including Carijano, attended. The other envoy is Andrés Sandi Mucushua, who leads the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River, the main Peruvian group representing the 12,500-member Achuar community. "My people are sick and dying because of Oxy. The water in our streams is not fit to drink and we can no longer eat the fish in our rivers or the animals in our forests," Sandi said in a statement. The main arguments the Achuars are using for a possible legal action are based on a report by the environmental groups EarthRights International, Amazon Watch and the Peruvian legal non-profit Racimos de Ungurahui, which studied Oxy's operations. The company began drilling for oil in the area in 1971. The field, near the Ecuadorian border, later became Peru's largest onshore oil field complex, eventually producing approximately 42 percent of Peru's oil. In 2000, Occidental sold its interests in the field to an Argentinean company, Pluspetrol. But the report alleges that during its 30 years of operations, Oxy over-emphasized cost-cutting measures that eventually led to a deliberate use of sub-standard technology and caused a lingering contamination of Achuar territory that has lasted until today. The 30-page report says that Oxy's activities "fell far short of the accepted industry standards" throughout the course of their operations. It says the company employed out-of-date practices in the Corrientes River basin and employed methods long outlawed in the US. For example, it used earthen pits to store drilling fluids, crude oil and crude byproducts. These were pits dug directly into the ground and were open, unlined and without protective barriers. They often overflowed onto the ground and into surface waters and leached into the surrounding soil and groundwater, says the report. The company also allegedly dumped an average of 850,000 barrels per day of toxic oil byproducts from the extraction process, known as "produced waters," directly into rivers and streams used by the Achuar for drinking, bathing, washing and fishing. The company also caused periodic oil spills. "The Achuar communities live with Oxy's legacy of harm, which consists of extreme pollution of their lands and waterways, disruption of their ability to fish, hunt and raise crops, and persistent health problems, including widespread lead and cadmium poisoning," says the report. It says that in total, Oxy dumped nine billion barrels of untreated "formation waters," a byproduct of the oil drilling process containing a variety of toxins and carcinogens, directly into the Achuar's unspoiled tropical rainforest territories. Richard S. Kline of Oxy said in an interview that his company had sold its interests to Pluspetrol, an Argentinean corporation that has assumed full responsibility for the past and current operations. He added that all operations were approved and monitored by the Peruvian government. A copy of the report released on May 3 by the environmental groups is yet to be submitted to the company for review, he said. "We have no scientific data of any negative health impacts," Kline said. "If there's any scientifically credible report or analysis, we'd certainly like the opportunity to review and evaluate it and we are open to dialogue and discussion." Activists contested this, saying the company needs to clear its name and that its past record doesn't auger well for the future. "Oxy's history of disregard for the law and for the most basic human rights of the Achuar is appalling," said Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch. "Oxy needs to move decisively and rectify its past mistakes by cleaning up its toxic mess and helping the Achuar deal with their health problems. Otherwise this scandal could haunt Oxy for years to come with negative publicity and potential legal actions," she said.