Chevron May Yet Have to Pay Billions for Its Ecuadorian Catastrophe
Chevron May Yet Have to Pay Billions for Its Ecuadorian Catastrophe
Sunday, 27 September 2015 00:00
By David Ray Griffin, Clarity Press | Book Excerpt
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A hand covered in crude from one of the hundreds of open toxic pits Chevron (formerly Texaco) abandoned in the Ecuadorean
Amazon rainforest near Lago Agrio. (Photo: Caroline Bennett / Rainforest Action Network)
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After a biased New York judge blocked a ruling by an Ecuadorian court that Chevron must pay a $15 billion fine for, among other things, dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon's waterways, the Ecuadorians appealed to Canada's Supreme Court. On September 4, this court rejected Chevron's attempt to get the fine blocked there, too. The decision means that the lawsuit may proceed.
Like ExxonMobil, Chevron has a very long history of bad behavior. "Like the other oil giants," environmentalist Bill McKibben wrote, "Chevron shows the same casual disregard for people around the world." Here are three examples:
The Richmond Explosion
In August 2012, there was an explosion at Chevron's refinery in Richmond, California, resulting in a big fire and toxic release, which sent 15,000 people to the hospital. Failing to get adequate compensation from Chevron, Richmond filed a lawsuit in 2013, charging it with "disregard of public safety," reflecting "years of neglect, lax oversight and corporate indifference to necessary safety inspection and repairs."
According to Reuters, the US Chemical Safety Board said:
Chevron did not act upon six recommendations over 10 years to increase inspection and replace the line.... During the 10 years before the August 6 blast, refinery officials saw signs the pipeline's walls were thinning due to corrosion.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32962-chevron-may-yet-have-to-pay-billions-for-its-ecuadorian-catastrophe