08 Dec 2005
2005 Inspections End with Plaintiffs' Refusal to Test Water to Substantiate Erroneous Claims
New Evidence of Petroecuador's Responsibility for Environmental Conditions at its Sites Submitted to Court
Three oil spills were confirmed to have taken place at Sacha Norte-2 after Texaco's remediation in 1996
Nueva Loja, December 8, 2005 - The final judicial inspection of 2005 witnessed plaintiffs' refusal to test water sources despite earlier claims that the site was contaminated, and new evidence of Petroecuador's responsibility for environmental conditions at sites within the former Petroecuador-Texpet consortium.
As part of its thorough inspection of the Sacha Norte-2 site, Chevron requested the Court to order experts to take 11 drinking water samples and 4 running (superficial) water samples at different points around the Station, as well as 10 soil samples and 3 sediment samples. By contrast, and despite claiming to the media just prior to the inspection that the water in the area is contaminated, plaintiffs refused to take any water samples to verify their allegations.
Also during the inspection, Chevron submitted to the Court official documents issued by Petroecuador in which the state owned company claimed responsibility for three oil spills that occurred at Production Station Sacha Norte-2 and neighboring areas. The three spills occurred in 1998, 2001, and 2005 -- well after Texaco completed its environmental remediation at the site in 1996. This evidence further underscored the fact that as the exclusive operator of the former Petroecuador-Texaco oil fields for the past 15 years, Petroecuador is the only party responsible for the current environmental conditions of those fields today.
Photographs and technical documents delivered by Chevron's legal team to the Court, show Texaco complied with the environmental remediation it undertook in compliance with regulations established by the Ecuadorian Government and Petroecuador.
Before concluding the inspection, Chevron's counsel reiterated once more "falseness of plaintiffs statements that during Texaco's operations formation waters were dumped into the environment with no prior treatment and that this practice has caused environmental and health damages."
Today's inspection completed the judicial inspections period scheduled for 2005. The 87 pending inspections will recommence in January 2006 and shall be conducted under the supervision of the Nueva Loja new Court's President. Current President, Efraín Novillo, ends his two year period by the end of January 2006.
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