Chevron Ordered to Pay Billions for Pollution in the Amazon

Science Daily:

Chevron was ordered to pay $8.6 billion to plaintiffs suing them for polluting the Amazon area while exploring for energy. $10 billion more could follow. Both sums would be used to pay for cleanup and health care for Ecuadorians. Chevron also must apologize publicly within 15 days or $8.6 billion more will be added to the sum.

Actually Chevron was not the perpetrator. Not really. They "inherited" the lawsuit when they purchased Texaco in 2001.

Chevron does not, in fact, operate in Ecuador today; the American company acquired the lawsuit when it bought Texaco in 2001. Texaco started oil exploration activities with Ecuador’s state oil company Petroecuador back in 1964, and for the next three decades, the 47 plaintiffs say, the company contributed to dumping billions of gallons of waste oil in the region, causing loss of livelihood, widespread health problems and up to 1400 deaths. [TIME]

Texaco paid $40 million in damages and then left Ecuador in the early 1990s. $40 million was not enough for the natives however (and rightly so).

Chevron knew about the lawsuit going in though and fought it saying that it was Petroecuador that caused most of the damage.

Chevron says they won't pay and is trying to block enforcement of the judgement and counter-sued. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Also as Chevron doesn't operate in the area anymore, the plaintiffs don't have leverage any longer. Ecuador is planning to pursue legal options in other countries.

Advisers to the plaintiffs said Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela would be obvious candidates to pursue Chevron assets, but they acknowledged it would not be easy. Venezuela, for instance, is a close Ecuadorean ally and its president, Hugo Chávez, is a frequent critic of the United States. But Chevron has extensive operations in Venezuela and enjoys warmer ties with Mr. Chávez’s government than just about any other American company. [The New York Times]

Chevron's value is almost $200 billion value (which is triple the amount of the Ecuador economy) so there's more funds to keep stalling and fighting.

I sure hope they are forced to pay, for the sake of the regions' inhabitants. But more importantly I hope they apologize and that the lawsuit sets a precedent that changes the way corporations take advantage of poorer countries.

Check out this book by John Perkins: Confessions of an Economic Hitman.

(via DiscoverMagazine,Chevron image, Texaco image)