BBC News, 14 February 2011
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US oil firm Chevron has been fined for polluting rivers and rainforest areas in Ecuador.
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| Maria Eugenia Briceno lives in the area affected by the pollution |
The fine, reported to be $8bn (£5bn), follows a legal battle lasting years. Chevron said it would appeal.
The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.
Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased.
The lawsuit against Chevron was brought on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoreans.
The plaintiffs said the company's activities had destroyed large areas of rainforest and also led to an increased risk of cancer among the local population.
The trial began in 2003 after almost a decade of legal battles in the US ended with a US appeals court ruling that the dispute should be heard in Ecuador.
Environmentalists hope the case the case will set a precedent forcing companies operating in the developing world to comply with the same anti-pollution standards as in the industrialised nations.
'Product of fraud'
Ecuadorian Indian groups said Texaco - which merged with Chevron in 2001 - dumped more than 18bn gallons of toxic materials into the unlined pits and rivers between 1972 and 1992.
Protesters said the company had destroyed their livelihood. Crops were damaged, farm animals killed and cancer increased among the local population, they said.
eA Chevron statement said the firm would appeal, and called the ruling "illegitimate and unenforceable".
The corporation has long contended that the court-appointed expert in the case was unduly influenced by the plaintiffs.
Its statement described the ruling as "the product of fraud (and) contrary to the legitimate scientific evidence".
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