Ecuadorean president to meet with Chevron over environmental damage

Reuters
Published: August 17, 2008

QUITO: President Rafael Correa of Ecuador says he plans to meet with officials and lawyers from Chevron on behalf of 30,000 jungle residents who are suing the U.S. oil giant for up to $16 billion over environmental damage.
Peasants and Indians are suing Chevron in an Ecuadorean court over charges its Texaco unit polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping 68 billion liters, or 18 billion gallons, of oil-laden water from 1972 to 1992.
"We will meet with the representatives of Chevron-Texaco who are asking for a meeting, but with our colleagues of the Amazon Defense Front present," Correa said during his weekly radio address on Saturday, referring to the plaintiffs' lawyers.
Chevron, which calls the case a "judicial farce" plagued by government interference, said on Friday it was open to reaching an amicable solution to resolve the suit after Ecuador said it was willing to mediate an out-of-court settlement.
The left-leaning Correa, who denies that the government has meddled in the case, said earlier this month that he had met with the plaintiffs' lawyers, who were worried that the government was already in talks with the company.

"Be confident that you have a patriotic and sovereign government that will never again bow to the interests of the big transnational" companies, said Correa, who did not give a date when a meeting with Chevron would take place.
Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, denies its operations affected the health of Amazon communities. The company has said it was released from liability because it paid $40 million for an environmental cleanup in the 1990s. Chevron blames the state oil company, Petroecuador, for much of the pollution.
"Our position hasn't changed; we are open to a meeting that could provide a solution," said Kent Robertson, a spokesman for Chevron in California.
"But if we sit down the government needs to discuss its unfulfilled contractual obligations," he said, referring to the liability release the company said was part of the earlier deal.
The plaintiffs' lawyers, who have not ruled out an out-of-court settlement, accuse Chevron of pressuring the Ecuadorean government to get involved in the case by asking Washington not to renew trade preference tariffs on the Andean country's products.
Steven Donziger, a U.S.-based lawyer advising the plaintiffs, said, "We are committed to a resolution that includes a comprehensive remediation of the environmental harm caused by Texaco, and for that to happen the Ecuadorean court needs to be allowed to finish the case."
Correa, who often scorns foreign oil companies and says they cheat his poor nation out of billions of dollars in revenue, has said Chevron has done irreversible damage to the Amazon.