Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network just announced a major victory for the Amazon rainforest. An Ecuadorean judge today found Chevron guilty of one of the largest environmental crimes in history and ordered the company to pay a whopping $8 billion to clean up its damage in the Amazon.ย
Chevron immediately issued a statement condemning the judgement as โilegitimate and unenforceableโ and announced plans to appeal.ย This ruling clearly has Chevron riled up, as the statement suggests the ruling is โthe product of fraudโ and included this ominous line: โChevron intends to see that the perpetrators of this fraud are held accountable for theirย misconduct.โ
Chevron apparently fails to see the irony of the phrase โheld accountable for their misconductโ since today was a major slapdown of the companyโs destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
As the L.A. Times notes in its piece about theย verdict,
Head over to The Understory blog of the Rainforest Action Network for more details.
AmazonWatch and Rainforest Action Network have released the following statement in response to the verdict:
โAs of today, Chevronโs guilt for extensive oil contamination in the Amazon rainforest is official. It is time Chevron takes responsibility for these environmental and public health damages, which they have fought for the past 18 years.
โTodayโs ruling in Ecuador against Chevron proves overwhelmingly that the oil giant is responsible for billions gallons of highly toxic waste sludge deliberately dumped into local streams and rivers, which thousands depend on for drinking, bathing, and fishing.
โChevron has spent the last 18 years waging unprecedented public relations and lobbying campaigns to avoid cleaning up the environmental and public health catastrophe it left in the Amazon rainforest. Todayโs guilty verdict sends a loud and clear message: It is time Chevron clean up its disastrous mess in Ecuador.
โTodayโs case is historic and unprecedented. It is the first time Indigenous people have sued a multinational corporation in the country where the crime was committed and won.
โTodayโs historic ruling against Chevron is a testament to the strength of the Ecuadorian people who have spent 18 years bringing Chevron to justice while suffering the effects of the companyโs extensive oil contamination.โ
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