26 Jan 2005

Judicial Inspection #15: Plaintiffs Attorney's Acknowledge Petroecuador's Responsibility, Stating That It Is "Evident That Petroecuador Contaminated the Site"

NUEVA LOJA, Ecuador, January 26, 2005 - The Superior Court of Nueva Loja today reinitiated judicial inspections in the environmental lawsuit filed against ChevronTexaco with a review of the Lago Agrio Norte production station, currently active and operated exclusively by Petroecuador. At this fifteenth judicial inspection, the President of the Superior Court, Efraín Novillo, observed an array of environmental impacts caused by Petroecuador's mismanagement of production station operations since the state-owned company became sole operator of the Petroecuador-Texaco Petroleum Company (Texpet) consortium in 1990.

Following are the highlights:

  • Adolfo Callejas, counsel for ChevronTexaco, began the inspection with a detailed demonstration of Petroecuador's history of improper practices that have caused continuous and extensive environmental impacts and demonstrate the state-owned company's responsibility for site conditions. These impacts included:
    • Spill prevention valves left open
    • Spills due to improper equipment maintenance
    • Open industrial waste pits
    • Improper operation of flare systems resulting in abnormal discharge of toxic liquids
  • Plaintiffs' counsel acknowledged, for the second time, that such environmental abuses witnessed are in fact the responsibility of Petroecuador, stating that "It is evident that Petroecuador contaminated the site."
  • Counsel for ChevronTexaco attributed plaintiffs' failure to pursue a suit against Petroecuador, despite their clear responsibility, to "purely economic reasons."
  • Callejas also revealed Petroecuador's clear lack of responsibility for its environmental obligations when he showed the Court a large mound of sealed, plastic bags clearly labeled as belonging to Petroecuador's environmental protection unit. These bags, containing contaminated soils from as far away as the coast of Ecuador, had been dumped in an open oil pit, along with plastic jugs and oil filters.
  • Later, Callejas demonstrated the multi-step process by which produced water was treated to remove petroleum before it was discharged into the environment when Texpet operated the station, 15 years ago. The equipment used to conduct that process, still visible today, offered tangible proof that contradicted plaintiffs' longstanding allegations that the water was untreated before discharge.
  • Petroecuador's responsibility for the current site conditions was further highlighted by a review of documents from the archives of the office of "Proteccion Integral del Distrito Amazonico de Petroecuador," which listed the following oil spills at the site:
Date of Oil Spill Contaminated Area
March 10, 1995 300 m2
August 30, 1995 500 m2
October 30, 1995 500 m2
November 30, 1995 500 m2
May 15, 1997
June 13, 1998
June 30, 1998
December 14, 1998
October 28, 2000
October 29, 2000
February 22, 2001
August 11, 2003
September 17, 2003
March 20, 2004
March 21, 2004
September 7, 2004

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