How The Search For Oil Can Wreak Havoc

Texaco faces a multibillion dollar lawsuit for spilling 1-1/2 times more oil in Ecaudor than the oil tanker Exxon Valdez.

1 minute read

December 1, 2003, 11:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"With U.S. and international oil companies now pushing deeper into Ecuador's virgin rain forest, a review of the documents, new studies, and interviews with current and former Texaco executives and Ecuadorean officials provide a portrait of how the search for oil can wreak havoc on a remote place and its people... Texaco dumped waste water directly into streams and jungle instead of using disposal methods safer for the environment and public health that became common in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. Oil company officials regarded those methods as too expensive to be cost-effective in Ecuador."

Thanks to Laura Kranz

Sunday, November 30, 2003 in The Los Angeles Times

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