Chevron Accused Of Dumping Oil in the Amazon
Chevron faces a legal battle and possible fines amounting to $16 billion in Ecuador and not many legal battles have been more murky and toxic than the one that has been fought for half a decade in the courtroom of Ecuador’s rain forest. The lawsuit initially started when a group of US trial lawyers accused the industrial giant Chevron of dumping gallons of toxic oil waste into the rivers and the streams located in the region. This has been called the Amazon’s Cherbonyl.
Some of the plaintiffs, mainly indigenous Indian farmers, are suffering from a host of diseases like cancer and came to the courtroom almost half naked and with painted faces. However Chevron vehemently denied the charges and termed the courtroom proceedings as “shakedown”.
However Chevron was forced to sit up and take notice when the court ordered the company to cough up $16 billion to clean up the region. The mammoth amount ruffled a lot of feathers and the company was coerced into disclosing the legal issue to their shareholders, whose main concern is the price to buy bio diesel fuel from the region. Though this is not the ultimate verdict Chevron officials are visibly bothered.
Chevron rallied several lobbyists on their own behalf and pushed the U.S. Government to restrict trade preferences to the country if the native government did not dismiss the case. They made it amply clear they will not take matters lying down and they said they will not let a small nation hassle an industrial giant like them.
What makes the case all the more sad is the fact that the industrial goliath seems more interested in clearing up their own image than the mess they created in the Amazon Rainforest. The condition has however worsened over the years and the toxic waste has leaked into the underground water contaminating the ecosystem at large. As there is no other source of water people are being forced to use the contaminated water and gradually push them selves towards death.
It will be interesting to see what happens in this case as the amount involved is enormous. Also the environmental disaster is simply massive.
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