A U.S. court said…Ecuador's government did not have to enter arbitration with Chevron Corp over an estimated liability of up to $16 billion stemming from oil waste pits in the Amazon rainforest. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Chevron's claim that Ecuador must submit to arbitration over who was responsible for any environmental damage to be "without merit"…In an ongoing suit in Ecuador, locals charge that Chevron's Texaco unit damaged their health by dumping billions of gallons of oil-laden water…Texaco…denies its operations affected the health of Amazon communities. The company argues it was released from liability because it paid…for an environmental clean-up in the 1990s, and blames Petroecuador for much of the pollution.