Related
Stories
- US court upholds Chevron oil fine
- Ecuador's oil battle far from over
- Chevron hits back in Amazon row
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| Residents say pollution was widespread, while Chevron says money was spent on a clean-up |
An
Ecuadorean appeals court has upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay damages
totalling $18.2bn (£11.5bn) over Amazon oil pollution.
Chevron
said the judgement was "illegitimate" and "a fraud".
Texaco,
which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping toxic materials in
the Ecuadorean Amazon.
The
original ruling ordered Chevron to pay $8.6bn in damages, which was more than
doubled after the company failed to make a public apology.
"We
ratify the ruling of February 14 2011 in all its parts, including the sentence
for moral reparation," the court in the Amazonian city of Lago Agrio said
in its ruling, according to Reuters.
Long-running
battle
In a statement released in response, Chevron said the decision was a "glaring
example of the politicization and corruption of Ecuador's judiciary". It
said it would continue to seek recourse through proceedings outside Ecuador.
The
decision is the latest twist in a long-running legal battle between Chevron and
the Ecuadorean plaintiffs.
The lawsuit
was brought on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoreans, in a case which has dragged on for
years.
Ecuadorean
indigenous groups said Texaco dumped more than 18bn gallons (68bn litres) of
toxic materials into unlined pits and rivers between 1972 and 1992.
But Chevron
says Texaco spent $40m cleaning up the area during the 1990s, and signed an
agreement with Ecuador in 1998 absolving it of any further responsibility.
In
September, a US appeals court overturned a decision to block the collection of
the fine from the company.
Plaintiffs,
who had agreed not to attempt to collect the damages until the appeals process
was completed in Ecuador, welcomed Tuesday's ruling.
"This
[ruling] confirms and ratifies that the company polluted and affected the
Amazon," they said in a statement.
"It is
necessary to clarify that no amount will be enough to repair all the crime they
did in our area, nor will it be enough to bring the dead back to life."
Ecuador's
President Rafael Correa described the dispute as a "David and
Goliath" battle.
"I
think justice has been done," he said after the ruling was announced.
"The
harm that Chevron caused to the Amazon cannot be denied."
Chevron has
challenged the fine, arguing that lawyers and supporters of the indigenous
groups who brought the case conspired to fabricate evidence.
In a
previous separate case, international arbitrators ordered the Ecuadorean
government to pay $96m to Chevron because Ecuador's courts had violated
international law as a result of delays in resolving commercial disputes
involving Texaco.
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