U.S.-Ecuador pollution row deepens; Chevron accuses state-run firm of pollution
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A day after an Ecuadorian court ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion in compensation, the American oil giant said it would appeal against the fine in the long-running dispute over pollution.
Meanwhile, Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson holds Ecuador’s state-run firm responsible for the pollution in the Amazon region. Robertson called the case an “extortion scheme.”
The two countries have been at odds since past two decades and had filed lawsuits in the U.S. and Ecuador. Experts believe that more appeals will further drag the case for several years.
In 2001, Texaco oil firm was merged with Chevron. Since then, it has been blamed for dumping several billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon River between years 1972 and 1992. Campaigners claim that locals are suffering from this pollution since many of their crops have been damaged and several of their animals have been killed. The residents also face the brunt of pollution with increased risk of cancer rates.
In response to the fresh court order, Chevron said that Texaco had spent some $40 million in cleaning up the area from toxic wastes during the 1990s. It also claimed to have signed an agreement with Ecuador under which the latter agreed to absolve it from any further responsibility.
In a statement to the BBC, Robertson admired Texaco’s operations and accused state-run firm Petroecuador of the pollution. “The oilfields in question have been solely operated by the government of Ecuador’s own oil company Petroecuador since past 20 years. Petroecuador has a deplorable environmental record and Chevron is getting blamed for actions in a country that we’ve never even operated in,” he added.
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