Monday, March 29, 2010

The Next Time Chevron Tells You Texaco Cleaned Its Share Of The Pits, Ask Them About Atacapi 5.

The next time Chevron tells you Texaco cleaned its share of the pits, ask them about Atacapi 5.

Chevron’s main defense in a $27 billion lawsuit for oil contamination is the 1995 remediation agreement with the government of Ecuador that released Texaco from government claims in exchange for cleaning up oil pits built by Texaco to store the toxic sludge left over from drilling.

What Chevron doesn’t tell you is that Texaco failed to live up to its side of the agreement. The pits Texaco “cleaned” tested as high or even higher for contamination than the pits Texaco did not clean. At many pits, Texaco only poured dirt into the pits, without cleaning them out and lining the pits first.

Here’s a photo of dirt laden with oil, dug only three inches deep from the pit at the well site, Atacapi 5. Contamination tests taken by the court-appointed expert at this site found a total petroleum hydrocarbon level of 21,976 parts per million — 21 times over the legal limit of 1,000 TPH.




The chart below lists other so-called “cleaned” pits that Texaco said it remediated, but clearly did not based on the illegal levels of TPH.

SITE

CHEVRON’S CLAIM

TPH

NUMBER OF TIMES

OVER LEGAL LIMIT

1

Sacha 18

Complete Remediation

35,380

35.3

2

Sacha 65

Complete Remediation

32,444

32.4

3

Shushufindi 27

Complete Remediation

26,413

26.4

4

Atacapi 5

Complete Remediation

21,976

21.9

5

Sacha 21

Complete Remediation

17,000

17

6

Shushufindi 21

Complete Remediation

16,033

16

7

Shushufindi 67

Complete Remediation

13,587

13.5

8

Shushufindi 45A

Complete Remediation

13,290

13.2

9

Shushufindi 48

Complete Remediation

13,000

13

10

Shushufindi 7

Complete Remediation

12,715

12.7

11

Shushufindi 25

Complete Remediation

10,956

10.9

12

Shushufindi 27

Complete Remediation

10,452

10.4

13

Ron 1

Complete Remediation

9,632

9.6

14

Lago Agrio 5

Complete Remediation

8,830

8.8

15

Sacha 94

Complete Remediation

8,700

8.7

16

Aguarico 8

Complete Remediation

8,183

8.1

17

Sacha 57

Complete Remediation

8,100

8.1

18

Sacha 65

Complete Remediation

7,519

7.5

19

Sacha 53

Complete Remediation

7,430

7.4

20

Shushufindi 13

Complete Remediation

7,415

7.4

21

Sacha 51

Complete Remediation

7,200

7.2

22

Shushufindi 45A

Complete Remediation

5,721

5.7

23

Sacha 94

Complete Remediation

5,600

5.6

24

Shushufindi 25

Complete Remediation

5,574

5.5

25

Guanta 4

Complete Remediation

5,510

5.5

26

Shushufindi 7

Complete Remediation

5,334

5.3

27

Shushufindi 48

Complete Remediation

5,000

5

28

Shushufindi 18

Complete Remediation

4,881

4.8

29

Lago Agrio 2

Complete Remediation

4,777

4.7

30

Auca 19

Complete Remediation

4,014

4

31

Yuca 28

Complete Remediation

3,876

3.8

32

Shushufindi 46

Complete Remediation

3,697

3.6

33

Sacha 56

Complete Remediation

3,600

3.6

34

Sacha 6

Complete Remediation

3,300

3.3

35

Shushufindi 21

Complete Remediation

3,133

3.1

36

Sacha 51

Complete Remediation

3,100

3.1

37

Shushufindi 48

Complete Remediation

3,000

3

38

Sacha 10

Complete Remediation

2,802

2.8

39

Shushufindi 48

Complete Remediation

2,700

2.7

40

Sacha 57

Complete Remediation

2,400

2.4

41

Shushufindi 24

Complete Remediation

2,180

2.1

42

Parahuacu 3

Complete Remediation

2,065.12

2.065

43

Shushufindi 24

Complete Remediation

2,000

2

44

Shushufindi 8

Complete Remediation

1,600

1.6

45

Lago Agrio 6

Complete Remediation

1,300

1.3