In a long-awaited court report submitted as part of the final phase of a trial, an independent expert has proposed that Chevron Oil pay a minimum of $7 billion and up to $16 billion to compensate for environmental contamination caused to Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest…. A final judicial decision is expected after the parties respond to the expert report…. “The size of the damages claim is not surprising for those of us who have asserted for decades that Chevron used horrific operational practices in Ecuador’s Amazon,” said Luis Yanza, the coordinator of the lawsuit for the indigenous groups and a resident of the region.