Legal battles dating to 1992 allege that Texaco dumped 16 billion gallons of heavily polluted waste water into Amazon waterways for twenty seven years. Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001 and claims that all contamination was mitigated prior to 1992. Plaintiffs are seeking $113 billion in compensation for environmental damage and health costs related to polluted ground water.
From Democracy Now
Monday, an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay an $8.6 billion fine and an equal amount in punitive damages. Chevron has vowed to appeal, but it has also suggested it will not pay up under any circumstance, calling the ruling “illegitimate and unenforceable.” The plaintiffs also say they plan to appeal because the damages are too low.
Amy Goodman speaks with Andrew Miller of Amazon Watch
AMY GOODMAN: In Chevron’s statement, which they pointed us to rather than coming on, aside from saying that the court’s judgment is “illegitimate and unenforceable,” they say it’s “the product of fraud and is contrary to the legitimate scientific evidence.” They go on to say, “Chevron intends to see the perpetrators of this fraud are held accountable for [their] misconduct.” What exactly do they mean?
ANDREW MILLER: Well, I mean, essentially, Chevron is trying to play themselves off as the victim here, which is quite extraordinary, of course—one of the largest corporations in the world, you know, essentially against some of the most marginalized communities in the world, indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. You know, and one of the extraordinary things here is that Chevron fought for years, actually, to have the jurisdiction moved from the United States to Ecuador. And they claimed that they could get a fair trial there, they claimed that they could get a transparent trial, and they essentially agreed to accept whatever the decision was. So they fought for years to do that.
