Green Daily

Last week, Richard Cabrera, a geological engineer, recommended that Chevron pay $8-16 billion in damages if it loses a lawsuit brought by indigenous groups.

The groups allege that Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, dumped tons of oil-mining waste into waterways. Chevron points to Petroecuador, in which Texaco had a minority business interest, as the culprit.

The lawsuit is garnering a lot of American interest. It was originally filed in New York in the early 90s, but the District Court ruled that it did not have proper jurisdiction to hear the case. In 2003, the lawsuit moved to Ecuador.

In February 2006, Sens. Barack Obama and Patrick Leahy, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Trade Representative Rob Portman asking that his office ignore lobbying efforts by Chevron on the Andean Free Trade agreement to get Ecuador to drop the lawsuit.

They wrote, " We are writing to seek your assurances that the U.S. Trade Representative will not allow negotiations over the Andean Free Trade Agreement to interfere with a case involving Chevron that is under consideration by the Ecuadorian judiciary, particularly one involving environmental, health and human rights issues that have regional importance. While we are not prejudging the outcome of the case, we do believe the 30,000 indigenous residents of Ecuador deserve their day in court."

Where is the evidence of pollution? Well, the Clean Up Ecuador Campaign has compiled all the judicial inspections -- inspections that found high levels of carcinogens, heavy metals, and hydrocarbons around the oil fields.

If you want more information about oil mining in Ecuador, Democracy Now! reported on the lawsuit in late 2007. In February, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa spoke about the pollution in an exclusive interview.

Amnesty International has a good historical summary that highlights the human rights abuses by Chevron as well as information on the SHARE POWER campaign to defend the rights of indigenous peoples.