CRUDE: A Joe Berlinger Film, Texaco and Chevron Atrocities in Ecuador.

A documentary about Texaco and Chevron Atrocities in Ecuador. Movie website.

I was lucky enough to get a screening copy of this powerful film, my thanks to Mrs. Burns. The movie will be released on February 23rd and you can pre-order it HERE. I highly recommend you order this movie right NOW!

I watched it Wednesday evening. It’s hard for me to know what to say about what I saw. I’m deeply ashamed that our lifestyle could cause such suffering and destruction in other countries but the concept is not new to me because I know about what Shell has done in Nigeria. There is a great deal of heartbreak and much that causes shame in this movie. At the same time, It’s uplifting to see Pablo Fajardo, a humble man from a fiscally poor but morally wealthy family, take on one of the most complicated cases in history.

The Ecuadorian people tell their own story in their own words from their homes and their forest. At first glimpse, you might think that these people are poor but before Texaco contaminated their world, they had everything they needed to live a simple life abundant with gifts from nature.

Texaco was fined $27 Billion for destroying this Ecuadorian Rain Forest but they have said they will never pay it.

The scientific expert working on this case says that this could never happen in the United States but he is dead wrong. It has happened and it continues to happen every day. I’ve blogged about this before and you can see a 60 minutes video HERE.

You can also listen to Mrs. Burns, below, or watch me on this blog. All across the miles and miles of Texas Big Oil and Big Gas has buried waste pits.

When they don’t bury the pits, they spread them on farmland and call it landfarming.

Mrs. Burns reviewed the movie:

Chevron has the same mess here in Texas!, January 14, 2010

This movie is so well done! The film lets the people involved speak for themselves. I just love watching the Chevron attorneys with their, “That’s our story, we are sticking to it. You have no proof.” defense. I live on a 38,000 acre ranch in South Texas where Texaco has operated since 1935 and Chevron Texaco continues to operate here. They are the only operators on their lease. We have the same pits that Ecuador has. There are sick people across Railroad Commission District #4. The municipal water supplies are full of volatile organics and other chemicals common in oilfield produced water. Texaco and ExxonMobil and a few other majors did the exact same practices in South Texas as they did in Ecuador. We deal with the stone faced arrogant oil company lawyers on a daily basis. They just lie endlessly. I hope that other people around the world see this movie and see how the companies behave. They didn’t clean anything up in South Texas. People are sick here, too. I’m so glad that this movie was made and made well. People will realize that Chevron has a bigger mess than Ecuador. They need to clean up their mess and be truthful to their stockholders. Great work!