Case of the Amazon Crude

According to the video Amazon Crude produced by Draggan Mihailovich ( Amazon Crude., May 2009) the only company being held responsible for polluting a large part of the Ecuador’s Amazon region is Chevron. I believe that not just Chevron should be responsible but also Ecuador's national oil company Petro Ecuador which had 60 percent ownership should be held responsible with Chevron due to its 60 percent ownership and the Government of Ecuador should also be held responsible because it should have protected their land and people from the pollution. According to the Amazon Crude Video;Texaco spent $40 million cleaning up some of these sites. In return for that the Ecuadorian government signed off and said, 'youre released of liability; The Government of Ecuador should have over saw these operations of Chevron and the cleaning by Chevron of the Amazon before releasing the liability. The one reason why I believe Chevron should not be the only responsible party because Ecuador's conservative government at the time declared Texaco's cleanup work satisfactory (Padgett; Kuffner, Feb 22, 2011), and it had a partnership with Petro Ecuador which had 60 percent ownership.

The outcome of the lawsuit ordered Chevron to pay $9 billion to clean up decades of petro-contamination in the Amazon jungle of northeast Ecuador (Padgett; Kuffner et. al. 2011). I believe that this lawsuit only targeted the American company Chevron even though 60 percent of the company was owned by Petro Ecuador an Ecuadoran company. And Chevron was also released of liability from the Ecuadorian government. Along with Chevron, Petro Ecuador, and the Government of Ecuador should be held responsible for the clean up of the pollution in the Amazon jungle of northeast Ecuador.

References

Amazon Crude. (May 2009). Amazon, Ecuador: CBS News.

Padgett, T, & Kuffner, S (Feb 22, 2011). Chevron v. Ecuador: Will the Plaintiffs Get Paid?. Retrieved Jan 18, 2012.