Abstract
Environmental pollution is among the hotly debated topics in the field of environmental studies. Contamination of this kind ranges from that of water, soil, and air. Industrialization and large organizations have been reported to be the primary sources of pollution across the world. Chevron, a leading multinational energy corporation, has in the recent past been accused and charged for heavy soil and water contamination through oil spills. Such environmental pollution has substantial consequences on the human health, safety, and well being. Van Duzer et al. (2015) assert that one of the most affected nations through the company’s activities is Ecuador under the operation of the Chevron Texaco Company. The devastating effects of pollution across the countries it operates include soil and water contamination, which massively leads to increased cancer incidents, birth defects, and childhood diseases such as leukemia (Zelman, 2011).
Introduction
Chevron Company is the American leading multinational energy corporation. Notably, it is one of the successors of the Standard Oil and is headquartered in the San Ramon, California. Recent reports about the company reveal that it operates in more than 180 nations across the world in continents such as North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia (Robinson & Palgrave Connect, 2014). As a multinational company, Chevron Company has considerably enjoyed the wide range competitive advantages over other companies across the world. In reality, one of the reasons for this success is the involvement in every aspect of oil, which includes the natural oil, natural gas, and the geothermal industries (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2010). In its wider note, the geothermal energy has also been a cutting edge of the company, and it includes the hydrocarbon exploration and generation, oil refinement and marketing and transportation of the chemicals for sale.
As of 2014, Chevron is ranked the third in the Fortune 500 list of the top public corporation in the United States (Van Duzer et al. 2015). As contended by Ahlstrom & Bruton (2010), the rapid expansion of the company can be traced to the foundation made by the company during the initial stages of development. Some of its predecessors such as the Star Oil discovered oil in the Pico Canyon Oil Field in the Santa Susana Mountains in the Northern part of the Los Angeles city. Despite being one of the successful companies, the company has been involved in pollution issues within the nations it operates. This paper, therefore, provides a discussion of various environmental pollution issues as observed in the case of Chevron company’s operations in different nations across the world.
Environmental pollution and Chevron Company
Today, the Chevron Company works in more than 180 nations across the world, with the most radical one being the United States, Angola, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Ecuador and the Gulf of Mexico (Van Duzer et al. 2015). While it is important to note that the company has been regarded as the leading multinational corporation in the world, its operations have received greater oppositions and criticism in the recent part due to its significant roles in environmental pollution.
Mino (2015) reveals that environmental pollution is a major component of Chevron's operations activities. On a wider note, environmental pollution refers to a deliberate release of harmful substances by the human being into the environment in such quantities that affect the well being of the living organism that relies on the physical and biological environment for as their source of livelihood. The most troubled nation by the company's activities is the Ecuador, under the operation of the Chevron Texaco. Ideally, the Texaco's environmental impacts take varied forms, which include the massive release of waste water regarded as the produced water (Zelman, 2011). It is often dumped into the surface streams. In the same way, the release of the contaminants through gas flaring, burning and the spreading oil on the roads forms another important form of Chevron’s pollution (Mino, 2015). To sum up, the construction of a 916 open-air, which is an unlined toxic pit in the floor of the rainforest Chernobyl is another crucial impact to note (Mino, 2015 and Zelman, 2011)
Wastewater
The waste water forms on of the major company's pollutants. While operating in nations such as the Ecuador, it is evident that the company dumped more than 18 billion gallons of the harmful waste water directly into the sources of water such as the streams and rivers (Mino, 2015). Reports issued by the Department of Environment contended the crude-oil contained in the toxic water by-product was 30 times heavier compared to the whole volume of the crude oil produced in the Exxon Valdez disaster (Zelman, 2011).
While it is important to recognize that the produced water is a toxic product produced as a result of various industrial processes, it is sometimes referred to as the formation water. Often, it consists of brackish water that is formed during oil formation in the oil fields and later pumped to the surface with the crude oil (Zelman, 2011). While the separation of the formation water from the oil is possible through the use of technologically advanced oil separation methods, this separation is not usually efficient. As a result, oil companies will resort to the discharge of the produced water into other channels that may accommodate its toxic nature. Heavy metals such as the lead and mercury are some of the major components present in the produced water. In addition, it is also more salt than the sea water and extremely hot. These characteristics render it harmful to the aquatic organism, which does not survive under such circumstances (Mino, 2015).
As an efficient strategy, therefore, the only way to dispose of the produced water is its injection into the underground wells where it becomes difficult to contaminate the rivers, streams, and other sources of water. Contrary to injection of the produced water into the wells beneath the ground, Chevron Toxico is involved in dumping the produced water different water sources such as rivers, streams, and ponds (Zelman, 2011). In this case, the people who relied on the rivers for domestic purposes such as cooking, bathing and drinking demonstrated a variety of ailments including the skin rashes (Mino, 2015). Besides, such dumping led to the disappearance of the fish from the local streams and rivers, thereby depriving the local Ecuadorians their principal source of nutrition.
The waste pits
As a strategy to reduce air pollution, the company established hundreds of unlined, underground waste pits for its nation’s activities. As noticeable, these pets permitted harmful substances to leach into surrounding soil. Besides, they overflow into various sources of waters such as the streams and river during heavy rainstorms (Zelman, 2011). It is important to recognize that while the company has succeeded in designing the waste pits for the waste water disposal; such activity causes considerable effects on the life of the living organisms that rely on the rivers and streams around. Usually, the overflowing oil carried into water sources affects the well-being of both the human beings, animals and the vegetation within the surrounding region. It is because they were constructed in the proximity to places where people live. The most hurting fact is that a simple standing near the waste pit makes it possible for one to inhale to the dangerous toxic gasses.
Recent surveys show that the majority of the holes has been left in the regions where they were designed, without the application of any appropriate cleanup strategies (Euler et al., 2015). However, the company had claimed to be liable for about 37 percent waste remediation, particularly in the clean pit ups in the 1990s, when it ceased its operations in Ecuador (Zelman, 2011). Even when this conclusion is accepted, it is clear that a considerable part of the company’s remediation initiative did not involve any cleanup programs. In most cases, the company cheaply shovelled soil over the planted vegetation, thereby leaving the waste oil buried instead of being eliminated entirely. Presently, the company asserts that the oil is currently degraded and cannot be moved, carried or leached to cause harm to anyone. Other people have even gone ahead to construct their houses on top of the waste pits and may be injuriously affected by the indirect effects of the waste later in the course of their lives.
Rain forest deforestation and destruction
Chevron is responsible for the deliberate dumping of massive amounts of oil pollution within the nations they operate. In Ecuador, for example, it is reported that the company is responsible for the substantial transformation of the forest ecology, particularly the Oriente. Located on the western edge of the Amazon forest, rainforest, Oriente is thought to be the most biodiverse forest on the globe. As recorded by Euler et al. (2015), the forest acted as the home of a significant number of the indigenous communities such as the Huaroni people, before Chevron (formerly Texaco) entered Amazon in 1967. The most fascinating fact is that the displaced Huaroni indigenous people were the only people living on earth still leading their traditional life fully. Oriente has encountered massive and serious degradation and deforestation, particularly from the oil spills.
Notably, Chevron played integral parts in the destruction of forest and other biodiversity to pave way for access roads, exploration and generation practices. Various environmental groups have claimed that Chevron has been responsible for the dumping of more than 20 billion gallons of toxic formation product and about 17 billion of the crude oil. The most dramatic oil spills in 1992 is one of the huge oil spills disasters in the history of mankind. Until today, the displaced indigenous Amazonian communities have failed to benefit from the oil exploration, refining and production in the Amazon forest (Zelman, 2011).
Despite knowing its role in the destruction of rainforests across many nations in the world, the Chevron denies any link with the current and the detrimental effects of climate change within the tropics. In an interview with the Washington Post, Watson argues that the oil and gas are the only affordable sources of energy for most governments today. Therefore, according to the CEO, Watson, climate change should be a second priority to economic growth (Mino2015).
Other ways of pollution
As notable, the waste pits and the dumping of wastewater are the primary sources of environmental pollutions in most nations of Chevron’s operations (Zelman, 2011). However, other ways of pollution as perpetuated by this multinational company also exist. As a matter of fact, burning of the waste pits surfaces through the use of the horizontal gas flares. This lead to the generation of toxic gasses into the atmosphere and includes the carcinogenic benzene (Euler et al., 2015).
Health issues as a result of Chevron’s activities
Industrial pollution has considerable impacts on both the human and animal health. Ideally, the root causes of these detrimental health impacts are the water contamination from many years of operations. Most of the oil infrastructure that has been developed by Chevron Company possessed insufficient environmental controls (as quoted in Euler et al., 2015). In the nations in which it operates, it is reported that Chevron has dumped billions of gallons of harmful waste water directly into water sources such as the rivers and streams. As reported, the contamination of the water that is necessary for the daily activities of many people has significant consequences in the human lives. Some of these impacts include the rise in cancer incidences caused by massive agents, miscarriages in women, significant birth defects, and other ailments.
More specific are the studies which have attempted to quantify the impact of environmental pollution that results from the Chevron’s operations (Goldhaber, 2014). Recent scientific evidence shows that most local people have greater knowledge regarding the effects of pollution on their lives. According to most people who reside near the waste pits and rivers that provide them with water for consumption, the rates of cancer, including the mouth, stomach, and uterine cancer, are raised within the regions where there is oil contamination (Goldhaber, 2014). In the same way, the reports by Zelman (2011) has established the childhood leukemia as a dominant disorder among the children who are born of parents previously affected by toxic chemicals dumped by the Chevron Company. Finally, the children born to mothers already exposed to contaminated water, poisonous gasses that emanated from the waste pits and heavy metals have shown considerable signs of birth defects. The Nigerian January 2012 incident is also among the noticeable incident that posed greater dangers to both human and animal lives (Ikelegbe, 2013). During this event, the drillers lost control, leading to the blowing out of the well. A Huge fireball was ignited and burnt for days, killing many workers.
According to Zelman (2011), other minor health impacts of environmental pollution have also been experienced and include frequent illness. Also, those who bathe in the contaminated water bodies such as the rivers and streams reported mild skin rashes. Nevertheless, those who consumed such contaminated waters reported diarrhea. In this way, it is evident that contamination of water, soil and the entire environment of the Chevron Company has had detrimental effects on both human and animal lives.
Finally, the environmental degradation from Chevron operations has exacerbated a strange tropical forest ecosystem (Swarup et al. 2015). This means that it has destroyed the way of lives of the local communities, thereby making it difficult for them to practice their traditional modes of subsistence. The soil and water contamination has established fresh and huge public health issues within the nations, it functions (Goldhaber, 2014).
Lawsuits against Chevron Oil Company
As one of the major companies that are involved in unlawful and non-environmental friendly projects across the nations it operates. Chevron has faced considerable lawsuits (VanDuzer et al., 2013). Most recent lawsuits have emanated from various United States communities (Mino, 2015). The local villagers in Ecuador in 2015 filed a lawsuit against Chevron in the United States courts. The lawyers provided orders to Chevron to cause the destruction of documents that talked about issues of environmental pollution such as soil and water contamination. Also, the company’s operations led to the massive transformation of the Ecuador’s tropical rainforest, which acted as the primary source of livelihood and nutrition for the local communities.
Mino (2015) and Barrett (2014) asserts that the declaration, in the letter to Chevron’s lawyers and other private assessors offered an indication that the community members and their legal counsels mediated lawsuits against the multinational oil organization. They were also against its management for unfair prosecution, defamation and the destruction of the evidence, in addition to other violations (Swarup et al. 2015).
According to the villagers, the company engaged in such malicious activities to escape the $9.5 billion environmental liability (Mino, 2015 and Barrett, 2014). Ideally, sources reveal that Chevron and its agents have the long-standing history of destroying the documents in nations they have caused huge negative environmental impacts. Usually, the primary motive behind this practice is generally to avoid the disclosure of the embarrassing circumstances. This came after exactly four and half decades when Chevron ordered the destruction of all documents that relates to the soil and water contamination in Ecuador (Mino, 2015). It has also been targeted by a class action that challenges associated with its 401(k) plan investments, which incorporates the fee paid for the Vanguard Investments and services (VanDuzer et al., 2013). Filed on February 17, 2016, by St. Louis-based Schlichter, Bogard, and Denton all directed their attacks against the decision of the company to incorporate the money market fund which is previously Vanguard sponsored in its 401(k) plan. The lawsuit felt that Chevron was should have instituted a lower-costs and excellently performing stable fund (VanDuzer et al., 2013). Besides, the suit further asserts that the Chevron Company should have taken the issue of separate accounts, the collaborative plans and the reduced-fee versions of the same Vanguard funds that it incorporated in the plan. On a wider note, the complaint further attacked the company for its failure to choose cost-friendly share class for a couple of its investment options, which amounted to more than $20 million in unnecessary fees (Mino, 2015 and Barrett, 2014).
Conclusion
As a conclusion, it is evident that environmental pollution has serious consequences on the biodiversity. Ideally, the industrialization and large organizations have been reported to be the primary sources of pollution across the world. Chevron, a leading multinational energy corporation, has in the recent past been accused and charged for heavy soil and water contamination through oil spills. Its pollution and environmental impacts have taken varied forms, which include the massive release of wastewater, crude oil and tropical rainforest destruction. Similarly, the release of the contaminants through gas flaring, burning and the spreading oil on the roads formed another important form of Chevron’s pollution. As a result of these pollution forms, serious effects such as birth defects, childhood leukemia, and malignant cancer of organs such as stomach, liver, lungs and mouth have emerged. Chevron should therefore emulate the policies and strategies that enhance sustainable development as such program play crucial roles in the reduction of harmful effects of pollution from industries and oil exploration sites.
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