Chevron, which has so far evaded fiscal redress for its toxic legacy in Ecuador referred to by some as ‘Chernobyl in the Amazon,’ may be seeing its fortune start to change.
An Ontario appeals court ruled Tuesday (pdf) that indigenous and farmer communities in Ecuador can seek enforcement in Canada of $9.5 billion owed to them by Chevron—one of the largest corporations in the world—for decades of contamination and pollution of the Lago Agrio region in northeastern Ecuador, which has led to a spike in cancer, reported birth defects and ongoing devastation of the environment.
Tuesday’s decision, which overturned a ruling from a lower Canadian court, will allow Chevron’s victims to pursue the legal battle in Canada.
The court also ordered Chevron and its Canadian subsidiary to pay nearly $100,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs.
“This decision is momentous,” said Humberto Piaguaje, a Secoya indigenous leader who is the director of the Assembly of Affected Communities. “It proves Chevron cannot hide behind legal technicalities to avoid justice.”
“Chevron believes that it can escape legal liability in Ecuador for environmental crimes because it has no assets in the country,” said Antonia Juhasz, author of The Tyranny of Oil and editor of several Alternative Annual Reports on Chevron, in an interview with Common Dreams. Juhasz recently returned from Ecuador where she says she viewed the ongoing impacts of Chevron’s oil contamination firsthand. “This ruling moves us one step closer to establishing the international community’s commitment to ensuring that the law, and justice, will in fact be upheld regardless of where Chevron runs to hide.”
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