Monday December 6, 2010
Source: The Beverly Hills Courier
A human rights and environmental contamination lawsuit brought by 25 members of a Peruvian Amazon tribe against Westwood-based Occidental Petroleum will be heard in Los Angeles federal court, an appeals panel ruled today.
A Los Angeles federal judge previously ruled that the 2007 case should be litigated in Peru. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, allowing the plaintiffs to proceed in federal court.
The lawsuit accuses Oxy of causing severe injuries by knowingly dumping a daily average of 850,000 barrels of toxic wastewater into the tropical rainforest inhabited by the indigenous Achuar people of northern Peru over a 30-year period, as well as inducing acid rain from gas flaring, and improperly storing waste in unlined pits.
An Oxy representative said that while the company has empathy for ``the continuing issues the Achuar people have raised,' the case should be heard in Peru, not the United States.
``The individual plaintiffs in this litigation are Peruvian,' said Richard S. Kline, the company's vice president of communications and public affairs. ``The alleged acts occurred in Peru and relate to oil production operations licensed by and for the Peruvian government.
``Occidental believes that the U.S. courts are not the appropriate forum to litigate these Peruvian claims, and will continue to advocate that position,' he said. ``We have empathy for the continuing issues the Achuar people have raised ... but to our knowledge there are no credible data indicating negative community health impacts resulting from Oxy's operations.'
Kline said Oxy transferred its interests in the Peru oil field known as ``Block 1-AB' to the Argentinean company PlusPetrol more than 10 years ago.
``PlusPetrol assumed responsibility for all past, present, and future operating conditions at the field,' he said.
But the plaintiffs allege that it was Oxy's practices that caused widespread lead and cadmium poisoning, among other health impacts.
``This is a major victory for the rights of indigenous peoples,' said Marco Simons, legal director of EarthRights International, who argued the appeal before the Ninth Circuit. ``Oxy will now face justice in the U.S. federal courts.'
According to Atossa Soltani, executive director of Amazon Watch, a plaintiff in the case, the Achuar people have suffered ``devastating health impacts' as a result of Oxy's practices.
``This ruling signals the end of the era when companies could destroy indigenous communities and their environment with impunity,' Soltani said.