Occidental Petroleum announced it would withdraw from the Peruvian Amazon. For the first time in 30 years, the company will not be drilling in the Amazon.
The news comes as indigenous leaders from the Peruvian Amazon visit Los Angeles to demand the company remediate the contamination and vow never to return to Achuar lands, where Oxy and other US companies still hold drilling rights.
“We welcome this news and thank Oxy for finally respecting our rights,” said Gonzalo Payma Sandi, a leader of the Achuar people. “And we will also continue demanding that Oxy assume responsibility for the toxic contamination it left on our territory. We very much hope that Oxy will clean up the pollution and justly compensate the affected communities.”
Lawrence Meriage, Oxy’s Vice President of Public Affairs said, “Oxy has informed the government of Peru of our intention to cease all activities in Peru and exit the country. This decision was made for a combination of business and technical considerations, and community issues.”
The decision brings Oxy’s practices in the Amazon into line with its Human Rights Policy, adopted by its board of directors in December 2004. Currently, Oxy also holds rights to new drilling concessions on other parts of Achuar territory, covering 6.3 million acres of some of the largest areas of intact primary tropical rainforest anywhere in the world, which it will now relinquish.
Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch Executive Director, said: “This welcome development offers lessons for the entire oil industry that the marginal benefits of operating in environmentally-sensitive areas, such as the Amazon, are overshadowed by the damage done to indigenous communities, their environment and to the company’s reputation.”
“Over the last decade, many oil firms — Oxy, Shell, Burlington, Arco, Chevron and ExxonMobil — have learned the hard way that they cannot duck these issues. People eventually find out and care enough to organize globally and challenge them.”
The Achuar have been fighting oil “development” for more than three decades. One part of their lands, former Oxy concession 1AB, has already been devastated by oil-related contamination. Local communities now face a public health crisis with a recent government report revealing dangerous concentrations of lead and cadmium in blood samples taken from the Achuar. Another neighboring area of Achuar lands, covering pristine primary tropical rainforests, is now threatened by new drilling concessions held by Oxy, Amerada Hess, Talisman, and ConocoPhillips, issued by the Peruvian government against the Achuar’s clearly-stated wishes.
The Oxy decision comes just over a month after a historic victory by the Achuar against Pluspetrol, the Argentine-company that took over Oxy’s former concession. As part of that landmark agreement, the dumping, which continues to this day, is due to be phased out over the next 18 months.
The deal was struck with Pluspetrol and the Peruvian government after 800 Achuar peacefully blockaded a Pluspetrol facility for two weeks. A dozen Achuar leaders and their legal team, including Mr. Payma Carijano and Ms. la Torre, now face criminal charges arising out of that peaceful protest in a move which human rights advocates have condemned as setting a disturbing precedent against the right to peaceful protest in Peru.
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