LIMA, Peru – A new report by a team of experts finds that crude oil and toxic waste pits left behind by Occidental Petroleum’s (OXY) operations in the Corrientes region of the Peruvian Amazon continue to contaminate the environment and present a serious health risk to local Achuar indigenous communities. The report also finds that the recent remediation operation by current operator, Argentine-based Pluspetrol, has been insufficient despite the intention of the company and the Peruvian government to declare the remediation work complete.

 

“The report leaves no room for doubt. Oxy’s massive industrial pollution of the region continues to threaten the Achuar people living in block 1-AB and Pluspetrol’s remediation has been entirely inadequate,” said Gregor MacLennan, Amazon Watch Peru Program Coordinator. “The Peruvian Government must withhold its approval on the remediation operation until there is adequate cleanup."

 

The report was published by E-Tech International, a non-profit technical consultancy firm from the US, that visited and sampled four contaminated sites and found heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons at levels above what is considered safe by US and Peruvian standards.

 

In response to the report’s resounding conclusions, as well as signs that Pluspetrol is preparing to declare an end to the remediation process, the Achuar indigenous organization FECONACO demanded that Pluspetrol and the Peruvian Government provide an explanation as to why clean-up operations are winding down.

 

“Pollution from oil-spills still exists in many sites that have not been properly cleaned. When it rains, the oil runs down and contaminates the rivers and streams where the people source their food,” said Guevara Sandi Chimboras, an Achuar leader who has worked as an environmental monitor investigating contamination in the region.

 

OXY faces an ongoing lawsuit for harming the health and environment of the native Achuar people who live on the Corrientes River in oil block 1-AB, operated by OXY between 1971 and 2000. During 30 years of operations OXY, using practices long outlawed in the U.S., pumped millions of barrels of production waters into the rivers and dumped toxic waste in unlined earthen pits. In 2000, Occidental transferred its aging and substandard production facility to the current operator, Pluspetrol, and signed a deal leaving Pluspetrol to clean up the damage.

 

After blockades and protests by the Achuar in 2006, which shut down oil production for 13 days, Pluspetrol was forced to commit to upgrading OXY’s aging infrastructure and began to re-inject production waters. Despite this significant advance, the report demonstrates that Pluspetrol has failed to clean up OXY’s toxic legacy. Today heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons continue to be present in the environment and pose a continued risk to the Achuar people’s health.

 

“We call upon OXY to face up to their moral and legal responsibility to fund an adequate cleanup of their toxic mess in block 1-AB, to compensate thousands of Achuar who have suffered profound harm, and to ensure the Achuar have access to modern health care to treat any medical conditions which OXY has contributed to or created over the years,” said Atossa Soltani, Executive Director of Amazon Watch.

 

Full Report:

http://www.etechinternational.org/peru09/05-sept-09_remediation_monitoring1AB_English_FINAL.PDF