Chevron to Pay $19 Billion for Environmental Damages

Posted by clnews Corporations Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

An Ecuadorian court recently demanded Chevron to pay $19 billion in environmental damages. This includes $900 million for the Amazon Defense Front—a coalition of plaintiffs in this decade-long legal battle—and an additional $8.6 billion because Chevron refused to apologize. Ouch!

The Amazon’s Chernobyl

Instead of paying up, Chevron is putting up its usual dirty fight. Its lawyers plan to appeal, and called the region’s legal system “illegitimate” and the reparations “unenforceable in any court that observes the rule of law.”

Those are strong words from a company that, between 1964 and 1990, had such poor waste management practices that 1,400 locals died. Needless to say, it’s not called “the Amazon’s Chernobyl” for nothing.

During those years, Chevron dumped billions of gallons of waste oil and water into open pits, thereby polluting fishing grounds, devastating crops, killing farm animals, and raising the rate of cancer among residents. Texaco (later bought by California-based Chevron) acknowledged the damage enough to promise $40 million to clean up after themselves, but they don’t seem happy about the updated number, $19 billion.