Adrian Elcuj Miranda, a judge in Buenos Aires, has ordered the
seizure of Chevron’s assets in Argentina, to force the company to pay a $19 billion penalty for polluting the Amazon in Ecuador. The plaintiffs are seeking similar legal action in Brazil, Canada, Colombia and other countries.
Chevron – a Northern California-based oil and gas company – merged
with another company named Texaco in 2001 whose actions are the basis of
the lawsuit. Between 1964 and 1992
Texaco admitted to dumping more than 16 billion gallons of toxic “water
of formation” into the streams and rivers of the Ecuadorean Amazon that were used by local inhabitants for their drinking water sickening indigenous tribespeople and farmers.
Some 900 open-air toxic waste pits still dot the area, where approximately 9,000 people are expected to contract cancer unless it is cleaned up, according to a study by Dr. Daniel Rourke, former of the Rand Corporation.
An initial lawsuit was filed by Ecuador’s indigenous communities in
1993. At the time the company asked for a trial in Ecuador to avoid a
U.S. court battle. A second lawsuit was filed in 2003 by Fajardo and Luis Manza on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoreans.
