Chevron owes Ecuador billions for pollution

According to an April 3 Reuters report, an independent environmental expert told a court in Ecuador that US oil giant Chevron should pay US$7 billion to $16 billion in compensation for environmental damage in the country. The lawsuit, which peasants and Indians in Ecuador brought in the early 1990s, contends that Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001, polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping 18 billion gallons of contaminated water from 1972 to 1992. Steven Donziger, a lawyer based in the United States who is advising the plaintiffs, said the report was "a complete rejection of everything that Chevron has been saying since the case began 15 years ago".

From GLW issue 746