Article
Ecuador keeps up oil cleanup fight against Chevron
Abel Garrido has just struck oil and he's not happy about it. Using a tree branch, the weathered farmer probed the edge of a pond that his cattle use for drinking water and soon turned up the smelly black sludge that he says has killed much of his livestock and sickened his family...The contamination at Garrido's farm and hundreds of others...is the basis of a controversial, long-running civil lawsuit in which a verdict is expected early next year [between] 30,000 mostly peasant farmers...[and] defendant Chevron, the...parent company [of] Texaco...Chevron says Texaco cleaned up its share of the spills...[and] blames Petroecuador for any ongoing spills...If Garrido and other residents win, the case could set a worldwide precedent...