A report to be released 3 May, the eve of Occidental Petroleum’s (Oxy) Annual General Meeting, reveals that the LA-based oil major deliberately ignored industry standards and employed out-of-date practices in its operations in the Peruvian Amazon, resulting in severe cadmium and lead poisoning among indigenous communities. The report, based on information gathered in a fact-finding mission by a team of experts for EarthRights International, the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes River, and Amazon Watch, documents the social and environmental impacts of 30 years of the LA-based oil major’s petroleum production in the Corrientes River basin, of northern Peru on five indigenous Achuar communities. It also contains a legal analysis of possible claims the Achuar may now have against Oxy.
