Chevron fined for Amazon pollution

The US oil giant Chevron has been fined $8.6bn (£5.3bn) by a court in Ecuador for polluting the country’s Amazon region. Campaigners claim that the company dumped billions of gallons of toxic materials into the Amazon rivers damaging crops and killing farm animals. The company has also been told it will have to pay a 10% legally mandated reparations fee, which brings the total penalty to $9.5bn (£5.9bn). However, Chevron has condemned the ruling as fraudulent, and has said it would appeal. Pablo Fajardo, lawyer for the plaintiffs, described the court ruling as ‘a triumph of justice over Chevron's crime and economic power. This is an important step but we're going to appeal this sentence because we think that the damages awarded are not enough considering the environmental damage caused by Chevron here in Ecuador,’ he told the BBC.