Environmental Prize Awarded to Seven Advocates Around the World

The Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded on Monday to seven advocates, including two Ecuadorean activists who have sought to pursue lawsuits against Texaco for oil contamination in the Amazon rain forest, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The Ecuadorean activists, Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and Luis Yanza, have alleged that Texaco, which later merged with the Chevron Corporation, created massive oil spills during the mid-1960s through 1990, while producing oil in partnership with the state-owned Petroecuador in the Ecuadorean jungle. Mr. Mendoza and Mr. Yanza contend that the oil companies’ activities caused an increase in cancer in the affected areas, as well as a polluted water supply.

The two activists will receive $150,000 each for organizing a half-dozen indigenous groups to protest the oil companies.

Chevron, while not disputing that oil pollution occurred during Texaco’s tenure in the region, said the company provided remedies that were overseen by the government and that released Texaco from legal liability.

The Goldman prize was founded in 1990 by the San Francisco insurance executive Richard Goldman and his wife, Rhoda Haas Goldman, an heiress to the Levi Strauss denim fortune. It rewards grass-roots environmental activism globally.