LETTER: Chevron benefiting from colonization

We, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA), would like to formally take credit for the cancellation of Chevron’s Water Symposium originally scheduled on July 3rd. We strongly condemn Chevron’s track record of colonialism, human rights violations, ties to militarism, and reckless environmental destruction for the sake of profit.

Chevron’s dark history that spans the globe is well documented. From deep ties with violent military institutions to exploitation and deceit, they have played a key role in the destruction of lands and communities across the world. This is not just about oil; it’s about relentless exploitation and violence. Chevron also has ties to militarism and war. As young people, we do not want to live in a world that relies on oil and war as its economic base. Oil companies like Chevron are guilty of colonizing Indigenous lands for oil and gas production, just as the United States requires being in a state of perpetual war to maintain its hegemony. The realities of capitalism, Indigenous dispossession, fossil fuels and militarism cannot be separated.

Chevron also benefits from and plays an active part in Israel’s ongoing colonization of Palestine. Chevron owns and partially operates the two largest Israeli natural gas fields, generating $1.5 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. New Mexicans will not stand for this, overseas or here at home.

The mere threat of publicly organized peaceful protest was enough to shake Chevron’s malignant attempt to contaminate our state with their fracking waste.

Our governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, and the New Mexico Environment Department are framing Wastewater Reuse Rule (WQCC 23-8) as a solution to address our water crisis, but really it’s an ill-disguised attempt to solve the oil and gas industry’s waste water problem.

This problem threatens the industry’s future, which is why they are clambering, greenwashing, and lying to sell us on this plan. The rule expands the use of fracking waste, or “produced water,” outside the oilfield. Their goal is to use this water for things like agriculture, irrigation, aquifer recharge, industrial processes and environmental restoration. The panel series hosted by Chevron in Albuquerque was an attempt to get state officials to lobby in favor of the wastewater reuse rule and make it more palatable to New Mexicans.

We strongly condemn Chevron’s deep ties to the patriarchal and capitalist power systems of the world. We oppose their ties to the waste water reuse rule in New Mexico. We refuse to pay the price for the oil and gas industry’s toxic waste problem. Our state is not a fracking waste dumping ground. The only solution to their problem is a halt to extraction. Fossil fuels are running out and so is our carbon budget. We are the sixth fastest warming state in the nation, our state’s annual average temperature has gone up 3 degrees fahrenheit over the past 50 years. It’s time for a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. It’s time to envision a world without oil, war, and extraction as its economic base.

Isaiah Trujillo

Albuquerque