Chevron fined for Amazon pollution by Ecuador court

[dipsydoodle]

A court in Ecuador has fined US oil giant Chevron $8.6bn (£5.3bn) for polluting a large part of the country's Amazon region.

The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.

Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased.

Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12460333

[social_critic]

1. Interesting Ruling

Chevron's partner was the state oil company Petroecuador. According to common practice, they would be expected to pay for 60 % of Chevron's fine. This means Petroecuador has to pay around $5 billion and Chevron $3.6 billion. I think this case is going to be in the courts for several hundred years.