Ecuadorian Court Fines chevron
An Ecuadorian court ordered oil giant Chevron to pay over $17 billion in fines and punitive damages for contamination they’ve been responsible for since the 1970s. They plan to appeal the ruling, but suggest that they won’t ever pay, even calling the decision “illegitimate and unenforceable”. The plaintiffs (a group of 30,000 Ecuadorian citizens) also plan to appeal; they believe that the fine is not enough to cover repairs and remediation (under the original ruling, half of the fine would be eliminated if Chevron apologized within 1 days).
I think it’s absolutely disgusting that Chevron is likely going to get away with the billions of dollars’ worth of damage it caused over the last half of the 20th century. The most recent decision in this decades-long battle favored Chevron; the US supreme court ruled that the company did not have to pay the $8.6 billion fine, citing corruption in the Ecuadorian judgement. They did, however, admit to the pollution (Reuters, 2017). I’m not sure where this leaves the case from a legal standpoint, but I hope that in the coming years Chevron will be forced to pay for its mistakes.
Reuters. (2017, June 19). US Top Court Hands Chevron Victory in Ecuador Pollution Case. Retrieved December 26, 2017, from https://www.voanews.com/a/supreme-court-chevron-equador/3906556.html
I think it’s absolutely disgusting that Chevron is likely going to get away with the billions of dollars’ worth of damage it caused over the last half of the 20th century. The most recent decision in this decades-long battle favored Chevron; the US supreme court ruled that the company did not have to pay the $8.6 billion fine, citing corruption in the Ecuadorian judgement. They did, however, admit to the pollution (Reuters, 2017). I’m not sure where this leaves the case from a legal standpoint, but I hope that in the coming years Chevron will be forced to pay for its mistakes.
Reuters. (2017, June 19). US Top Court Hands Chevron Victory in Ecuador Pollution Case. Retrieved December 26, 2017, from https://www.voanews.com/a/supreme-court-chevron-equador/3906556.html