Ecuadorian Court, Favors Chevron Oil

La Hora reports Ecuador’s Court of Justice acquitted two lawyers of the U.S oil company Chevron of alleged contamination in the Amazon, former Minister of Energy of Ecuador Patricio Rivadeneira and former officials of Petroecuador, the state-owned oil company. Documents state the acquitted developed a false discharge document in 1998 stating that Texaco, acquired by Chevron, had fulfilled its remediation work in the Amazon. The Chevron case opened in 2008 under Attorney General of Ecuador Washington Pesantez. Moreover, an open civil trial alleges Texaco’s operations polluted the Amazon from 1964 to 1990. A lawyer for the acquitted, Andres Rivero says that the plaintiffs in the civil trial have used the National Court case to ‘extort’ a settlement. In February a Lago Agrio court ruled in favor of the civil plaintiffs, ordering Chevron to pay more than USD 9,500 million. The figure will double if Chevron does not apologize. Both parties are appealing.Read Article