SAN RAMON, Calif., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. energy company Chevron said "the game is up" regarding a rain forest pollution case in Ecuador after an international tribunal ruled in its favor.
Plaintiffs in Ecuador blame Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001, for environmental contamination and adverse health effects tied to operations in the country's rainforests from 1972 to 1990.
Chevron announced an international arbitration tribunal found an agreement reached between Texaco and the government in Ecuador released Texaco and its affiliates of any liability from environmental claims.
"The game is up," Chevron's general counsel Hewitt Pate said in a statement Wednesday.
Chevron said it was seeking to hold Ecuador accountable for its support for issuing a "fraudulent" $19 billion judgment against the company.
The U.S. Supreme Court in October turned down an effort by Chevron to block the $19 billion judgment filed against the oil company.
Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the past said Chevron is playing a legal shell game to dodge its environmental responsibilities in the country.
Texaco was first accused in the U.S. court system of contaminating the Amazon rain forest in the 1990s. Texaco pushed the case to Ecuador's justice system and Pate said it's the government that has a "growing liability to Chevron."
