'Amazon Chernobyl': Ecuador fights back Chevron's charge of extortion

Petro Chemical  |  2014-06-03 00:48:29   |   By

Chevron has been dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest of Ecuador for the last 18 years, accused Attorney Juan Pablo Saenz before the U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District Court of New York (SDNY)

NEW YORK (Scrap Monster): Chevron has been dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest of Ecuador for the last 18 years, accused Attorney Juan Pablo Saenz before the U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District Court of New York (SDNY). He further accused that Chevron believed it could use that same power to buy or bully its way to a swift dismissal of this case.

The declaration was filed in opposition to extortion charges filed by Chevron in New York against the Ecuadorian citizens bringing the lawsuit, and their lawyers and advisors. The charges are part of a flurry of legal activity launched by the oil giant to try to block enforcement of a judgment based on the overwhelming scientific evidence of contamination caused by the company's actions, according to legal papers filed by the plaintiffs.

A new 42-page sworn affidavit, backed by hundreds of pages of exhibits, has outlined in stunning detail Chevron's 18-year effort to undermine the Ecuador court that recently awarded a $9.5 billion judgment against the company for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest of the South American nation and creating what locals call the 'Amazon Chernobyl'.

Chevron's allegations are particularly ironic given that the company is seeking relief from the same U.S. court that it asked to send the case to Ecuador in 2002, claiming at the time the South American nation was a more appropriate venue for the trial.  

The lawsuit accuses the oil giant of deliberately and unlawfully discharging more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways, decimating indigenous groups and poisoning an area the size of Rhode Island with what experts believe is the worst oil-related contamination on the planet.  It also accuses the company of committing a sham remediation in the 1990s and other acts of fraud to cover up its misconduct.  The magnitude of the dumping dwarfs the size of the BP Gulf spill, according to the plaintiffs.

An Ecuadorian court, after an arduous eight-year trial hampered by Chevron's delay tactics, found on Feb. 14 that that the oil giant was guilty and ordered it to pay approximately $9.5 billion to remediate the damage.  Both sides have appealed the decision, with the plaintiffs claiming the amount is too low to provide adequate compensation in light of BP's estimated liability of $60b to $100b for the Gulf spill.

 (PRNewswire)