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An Ecuadorean appeals court has upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay damages totalling 18,2 billion US dollar over Amazon oil pollution, BBC online reports Wednesday.
Chevron said the judgement was “illegitimate” and “a fraud” (bedragerisk). Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping toxic materials in the Ecuadorean Amazon.
The original ruling ordered Chevron to pay 8,6 billion dollar in damages, which was more than doubled after the company failed to make a public apology.
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 (regres) through proceedings outside Ecuador.
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 68 billion litres of toxic materials into unlined pits (bassiner/skakter) and rivers between 1972 and 1992.
But Chevron says Texaco spent 40 million dollar cleaning up the area during the 1990s, and signed an agreement with Ecuador in 1998 absolving (fritage) 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 (sagsøgerne), who had agreed not to attempt to collect the damages until the appeals process was completed in Ecuador, welcomed Tuesday’s ruling.
