Texaco Left Toxic Legacy in Ecuador
Texaco’s star may soon disappear from the eye of the public [“Texaco’s Star May Soon Fade,” Aug. 20], but the native peoples and farmers of the Ecuadorean rain forest will never forget whose crude operations turned their rivers, land and skies black.
A group representing more than 30,000 Ecuadoreans is suing Texaco in U.S. District Court, charging that the company dumped some 4.3 million gallons a day of toxic oil waste water into the Amazon. Texaco also left behind more than 300 open waste pits contaminated with heavy metals and other carcinogenic hydrocarbon compounds.
The Ecuador plaintiffs have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Chevron has not adequately divulged the huge potential liability of the lawsuit to its shareholders. For those living in the shadow of Texaco’s shining star, the company’s toxic legacy in Ecuador will never fade. The SEC must insist that the company settle its liabilities in Ecuador as a condition for the merger.
Kevin Koenig
Amazon Watch
Topanga
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No story on the demise of Texaco would be complete without mention of Texaco’s continuous sponsorship of the New York Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Since 1940, Texaco has brought weekly live performances by the world’s greatest singers into millions of homes, and it has never (to my knowledge) insisted that the old or new Met be renamed the “Texaco Metropolitan Opera House.”
Surely this is good corporate citizenship on a scale to which we in the 21st century are unaccustomed. May the Met find a worthy successor to Texaco.
George Kopp
Woodland Hills
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