...[One of Chevron's US] lobbyists, who pulling back Chevron’s corporate responsibility veil [recently] bluntly stated the unspeakable, big oil interests are more important than small countries... Chevron denies that the statement reflects their corporate thinking, but local communities in Ecuador, where the company is entangled in a legal nightmare over oil contamination, are furious... Largely at the encouragement of Chevron, US federal courts dismissed lawsuits filed in New York, suggesting that they should be taken up in Ecuador. Chevron argued back then that the Ecuadorian judicial system was extremely competent, fair, and non-partial... Things got heated up [in the Ecuador lawsuit] when an Ecuadorian court-hired independent consultant came back with...a recommendation that Chevron pay up and clean up, to the tune of up to US$16 billion... Then Chevron reversed their support to the independent study and to the Ecuadorian legal system, which they now claim is corrupt, illegal, and partial. [also refers to Texaco (now part of Chevron), Petroecuador]