Historic $18 billion Chevron ruling for 30000 Amazonian human rights

After deliberately contaminating Indigenous Amazonians with billions of gallons of toxic waste for decades, Chevron fined $18 billion for ’environmental crimes and human rights abuses’

After an 18-year legal battle, on Tuesday, an Ecuadorian appellate court upheld a historic $18 billion award against U.S.-based Chevron oil giant for deliberately contaminating the Ecuadorian Amazon and poisoning its people, the largest environmental award ever and the result of a legal battle by some 30,000 Indigenous Peoples and farmers seeking a clean up of contaminated sites plus clean drinking water and health care.

An 18-year legal battle by Ecuadorians, Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action to hold Chevron accountable for what the rights defenders call "egregious environmental crimes and human rights abuses" resulted an Ecuadorian appellate court upholding on Tuesday a historic $18 billion award against Chevron for deliberately contaminating the Ecuadorian Amazon, the largest environmental award ever and major victory for some 30,000 indigenous survivors seeking a clean up of contaminated sites, clean drinking water, and health care.

Amazon Defense Coalition’s Karen Hinton, spokeswoman for the plaintiffs, issued a statement saying the latest ruling was “further confirmation of Chevron’s extraordinary greed and criminal misconduct in Ecuador.”

The crimes have been committed in "a remote pocket of the Amazon where the country’s oil industry was founded," Naomi Mapstone reported from Lima on Wednesday for Financial Times (FT).

“After destroying the environment and the entire way of life of five indigenous groups to maximise its profits, Chevron sold almost all of its assets in Ecuador and essentially fled the country.

"Chevron has violated the rights of the communities where it operates, disrespected local laws, intimidated community leaders and judges, lied about basic evidence, tried to defraud the court with junk science, and launched an international lobbying campaign to taint the reputation of Ecuador’s government for allowing its citizens to use their legally protected right to seek accountability in their own courts.” (Financial Times.com)

For the second time, in a jurisdiction of its own choosing, Chevron has been found guilty of widespread oil contamination in Ecuador’s Amazon.

Rights defenders say drill and dump has injured for over four decades

"It is a historic triumph for the thousands of victims who have suffered for over four decades from Chevron’s drill-and-dump practices," Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network stated in a written statement Wednesday.

"The ruling once again proves Chevron is responsible for "deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste sludge into local streams and rivers, which thousands depend on for drinking, bathing, and fishing, and created a public health crisis in the rainforest region."

Naomi Mapstone in Lima reported Wednesday "The damages bill represents about one-third of Ecuador’s gross domestic product, making it the most expensive environmental suit in history, although the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill is expected to overtake it."

Attempting to evade accountability for over a decade, Chevron spent hundreds of millions of dollars, exacerbating the suffering of thousands of rainforest residents, including children, with unprecedented diseases that Ecuadorians had never experienced and loss of life.

Chevron has threatened to continue deploying its armies of lawyers with yet more legal stonewalling tactics, still hoping that its unlimited resources can outspend and outlast the course of justice, the rights defenders stated.

"But the guilty verdict sends a loud and clear message : It is time for Chevron to clean up the Ecuadorian Amazon."

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