Chevron fined $9.5 billion for Ecuador oil contamination
QUITO, Ecuador — An Ecuadorean judge ruled Monday in an epic environmental case that Chevron Corp. was responsible for oil drilling contamination in a wide swath of Ecuador@@@s northern jungle and ordered the oil giant to pay $9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs.The amount — $8.6 billion plus a legally mandated 10 percent reparations fee — was far below the $27.3 billion award recommended by a court-appointed expert but appeared to be the highest damage award ever issued in an environmental lawsuit.But whether the plaintiffs — including indigenous groups who say their hunting and fishing grounds in Amazon River headwaters were decimated by toxic wastewater that also raised the cancer rate — can collect remains to be seen.In a statement, Chevron called the decision "illegitimate and unenforceable" and said it would appeal. It has long contended it could never get a fair trial in Ecuador and has removed all assets from this politically volatile Andean country, whose leftist president, Rafael Correa, had voiced support for the plaintiffs.ByREUTERS06/08/2025 07:57 AMByREUTERS06/08/2025 05:36 AMByMAARIV06/07/2025 02:33 PMByWALLA!06/07/2025 11:18 AMByREUTERS06/07/2025 03:25 AM
