Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies and it operates in more than 180 countries.
For the last 17 years, the South American country of Ecuador has been trying to get Chevron to clean up environmental damage in the Amazon caused by . This damage is said to be the world's second largest environmental disaster other than the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
What kind of damage?
* Pollution to large areas of the Ecuadoran jungle
* Up to 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater dumped into waterways
* Up to 17 million gallons of crude oil contained in unlined pits
What were the results of this damage?
* Death of food crops and livestock (farm animals)
* Increased health problems like skin disease and cancer
* An estimated $27 billion in damages
A legal battle as been going on for almost two decades and recently a judge ordered the company to pay at least $8.6 billion in damages.
Chevron has stated that it has no plans to provide any money at all for cleanup. Ecuador does not have the same laws as the United States about protecting the environment and so it will be very difficult to force Chevron to pay any money at all!
If you or I made a big mess, we'd have to clean it up! Why does a giant oil company get away with it?
