Big Oil Ordered to Pay Fine to Ecuadorians

On Monday 17 Ecuadorian courts found Chevron (former Texaco) guilty of environmental contamination of the Amazon and was ordered to pay a fine of $9bn in damages, the largest judgement ever against a U.S. company for environmental contamination. It was the first time that indigenous and farmer communities won a judgement in foreign courts against an American company for environmental crimes abroad. The case has been running for 17 years.

According to Amazon Watch, between 1964 and 1990, Chevron operated a large oil concession in the northeastern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The company admitted that its oil extraction system led to the deliberate discharge of approximately 18 billion gallons of chemical-laden “water of formation” into streams and rivers of Ecuador’s Amazon, home to six indigenous groups.

Here’s a list of environmental damages Chevron was found guilty of:
• The company abandoned more than 900 unlined waste pits gouged out of the jungle floor that leech toxins into soils and streams;
• It contaminated the air by burning the waste pits;
• It dumped oil along roads;
• It spilled millions of gallons of pure crude from ruptured pipelines.

Internal company documents show that Chevron officials ordered field workers to destroy records of oil spills. The company refused to develop an environmental response plan or pipeline maintenance program, and Chevron never conducted a single health evaluation or environmental impact study despite the obvious harm it was causing.

The consequence of this colossal environmental contamination was the decimation of several indigenous groups and the exposure of more than 9,000 people to increased risk of cancer over the coming decades.

Scientific evidence submitted during the trial definitively proves that all of Chevron’s 378 well and production sites, most of which were built in the 1970s, are extensively contaminated.

Chevron has vowed to appeal the decision. It has already asked a judge for clarification to the ruling, which means the judgement is suspended until the judge responds.

According to a BBC report, the verdict was not met with a triumphant atmosphere by those who fought for it. Indigenous leader Guillermo Grefa said the outcome was just the beginning. He said the fine was not going to be enough to fix the damage done to nature. “Our pachamama [Mother Earth] is dead,” he told the BBC.

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