Success! Chevron ordered to pay $19B for environmental damage

Thanks to your actions, Care2 members, we celebrated a major victory in Ecuador this week.

Chevron has been ordered by an Ecuadorian court to pay more than $19 billion in environmental damages, $1 billion more than originally decided, after an Ecuadorian court adjusted the amount on appeal.

Over the course of 26 years of oil drilling in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, U.S. oil giant Chevron deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest. The contamination devastated the homes of some 30,000 indigenous people and large areas of the rainforest, leaving local people suffering a wave of cancers, miscarriages and birth defects. In spite of the tremendous suffering caused by this toxic pollution, Chevron refused to clean up the catastrophe.

It has taken years of litigation to hold Chevron accountable and force them to compensate the victims of their environmental destruction.

More than 60,000 Care2 members signed petitions demanding that Chevron take action and repay the Ecuadorians whose homes they destroyed. Your actions helped hold the oil giant accountable for its egregious environmental destruction.

This is a huge success for the environmental health of Ecuadorians and for the Amazon rainforest. This incredible victory would not have been possible without your support!

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Photo from Thinkstock

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Danuta W.

1:22AM PST on Feb 24, 2013

Interesting. Thank you for posting it.

February 24
send a green star

Valentina R.

2:29PM PST on Feb 16, 2013

Great to know.

February 16
send a green star

Duane B.

11:22AM PST on Feb 4, 2013

Thank you for sharing.

February 4
send a green star

Kelly C.

9:25AM PDT on Oct 3, 2012

I am not going to be buying Chevron gas until they prove that they will pay the $19B to the people whose lives and homes they destroyed.

October 3
send a green star

Antje F.

7:39PM PDT on Sep 18, 2012

ORDERING them to pay and GETTING them to pay are two completely different things. One does NOT mean the other WILL GET DONE. justice wonder HOW LONG it will take, if EVER , to get it done.