Posted on 12/20/2008 11:34:01 AM PST by BGHater
Chevron faces potential $27 billion bill in Amazon pollution lawsuit
When the sun beats particularly hot on this land in the middle of the jungle, the roads sweat petroleum.
A Rhode Island-sized expanse of what was once pristine Amazon rainforest is crisscrossed with oil wells and pipeline grids built by Texaco Inc. a generation ago. And for the past 15 years, a class-action lawsuit has been winding its way through the courts on behalf of the more than 125,000 people who drink, bathe, fish and wash their clothes in tainted headwaters of the Amazon River.
Now a single judge is expected to rule in the case in 2009 from a ramshackle courtroom in this northern frontier town. Statements from a court-appointed expert suggest Chevron Corp. -- which bought Texaco in 2001 -- will be held responsible for the many oil spills and dumping of wastewater. If Chevron loses, it could be ordered to pay up to $27.3 billion in damages, though an appeal would be likely.
The expert, geological engineer Richard Cabrera, largely accepts plaintiffs' claims that Texaco left a mess when it left in the early 1990s. He is recommending damages based partly on his calculation of 1,401 pollution-caused cancer deaths.
Chevron does not deny "the presence of pollution and we don't deny that there were impacts," says spokesman Kent Robertson. But Chevron contends a 1998 agreement that Texaco signed with Ecuador, after spending $40 million on remediation, absolves it of any legal responsibility. It says, and few dispute, that its former partner, state oil company Petroecuador, kept polluting after Texaco departed.
When Donald Moncayo was a kid, he remembers, Texaco soaked the dirt thoroughfares it cut through the jungle with crude to keep dust down.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Pfft.....!
What wealth Ecuador has was built by Texaco and companies like it.
Ecuador has little that oil didn't buy it.
When Texaco pulled out of the country, it handed over its assets to the government oil company with the agreement that the government oil company in accepting Texaco's assets accepted also the job of dealing with any environmental issues.
The practices used were normal at the time they were done. Texaco spent millions cleaning it up, and the government oil company agreed to finish the work in return for Texaco's properties. If Texaco must finish the cleanup, Ecuador should return the oilfields as well.
They had an agreement. Ecuador is backing out of the agreement, but without returning the property. You can't have it both ways.
Screw this!
A gnat on an elephant's butt. Is petroleum foreign to this planet?
Is petroleum foreign to this planet?
Def: An 'abiotic' substance that seeps through the sea bed off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, and other places. Sometimes requiring a dose of GoJo after a day of surfing. (See, oil wells in the Everglades)
5.56mm
I have read that the amount of petroleum that gets into the sea due to human activity is a very small percentage of all the oil that seeps into the sea. That said; it would be a major pain to have to GoJo yourself after a swim.
I always wanted to surf but CO is somewhat surf challenged. I guess I didn't want to surf bad enough to go to CA. No regrets.
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