It's been called the worst environmental crime ever perpetrated, anywhere in the world. Billions of gallons of toxic oil-drilling waste indiscriminately dumped into pristine Amazon waterways used for drinking, fishing and bathing by tens of thousands of Ecuadorians. Three decades of "deliberate" contamination laid waste to an expanse of lush rainforest comparable to the size of Rhode Island. Today, noxious pools of oily sludge still drain into local rivers and streams. Cancer, lung disease and chronic skin lesions now run rampant through the indigenous population, creating a massive public health crisis in a remote area of the Amazon where medical resources (not to mention hope) are scarce. The good news in this otherwise bleak situation is that it appears the perpetrator – after an 18-year legal battle – will finally be punished for the environmental crime of the ages. Earlier this month, an appeals court in Ecuador upheld a ruling that Chevron, one of the world's wealthiest corporations, pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused the U.S. oil giant of polluting the Amazon rainforest and ravaging their health. It is the largest "environmental damages" award ever handed down. The huge award is certainly warranted and welcomed, but the real story ...
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