FICTION:
“…[N]ew proof has emerged that the oil giant never touched the majority of toxic waste pits that it certified as clean to Ecuador’s government in exchange for a legal release,” said a lawyer for the Amazon Defense Coalition. …”The release….does provide evidence of an underlying fraud that proves the remediation never really occurred, despite Chevron’s claims…” – Amazon Defense Coalition Press Release: 3/24/09
FACT:
Texaco Petroleum’s remediation program is a well-documented matter of public record, and this “evidence” of an alleged fraud is a knowing and deliberate fabrication by the plaintiffs. The Government of Ecuador and Petroecuador certified – and investigations by the Controller General’s office in Ecuador have confirmed – that Texaco Petroleum completed remediation in every one of the pits for which it was responsible, in accordance with all local and international regulations, accepted operating practices and contractual obligations.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys and the activists know – and are conveniently ignoring – that Petroecuador did not cooperate in the remediation program at the time when Texaco Petroleum carried out its commitments, and that Petroecuador did not begin a remediation program until 2005, promising to remediate all the remaining pits by 2010.
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