QUITO: President Rafael Correa of Ecuador says he plans to meet with officials and lawyers from Chevron on behalf of 30,000 jungle residents who are suing the U.S. oil giant for up to $16 billion over environmental damage.
Peasants and Indians are suing Chevron in an Ecuadorean court over charges its Texaco unit polluted the jungle and damaged their health by dumping 68 billion liters, or 18 billion gallons, of oil-laden water from 1972 to 1992.

Valdez Victims Spurned: Almost 20 years of legal battle ended in frustration for victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, as the US supreme court reduced an earlier damages award of $2.5 billion to $507 million. The new figure amounts to just $15,000 for each of the plaintiffs, a group of 33,000 commercial fishermen, cannery workers, native Alaskans and others affected by the disaster, called

Raktima Bose The Bangladeshi barge m v Nilam moments before it sank. A Bangladeshi barge, on its way to the Narayanganj inland port, sank in the Hooghly river after it ran aground hitting an island at Noorpur in South 24 Parganas district on Monday. The barge was carrying 700 tonnes of steel coils worth Rs.4 crore. It left the Kolkata port on Sunday night. Kolkata Port Trust (KPT) sources said m v Nilam had 11 people onboard, all of whom were rescued by the local people.

A week after fishermen complained of oil wastes polluting the Mahul creek and after the RPF police instructed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) officials

pollution liability: Several oil majors in the US have agreed to pay up US $423 million in what is billed as the largest settlement over drinking-water contamination involving 153 public water

Researchers in the United States announced on Friday they had created a paper-like membrane made of nano-scale materials that could clean up oil pollution and other chemical spills. The substance can absorb up to 20 times its own weight in oil and be recycled again and again for future use, while the oil itself can also be recovered and used, they reported in the specialist journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The Nankan River in Kumamoto Prefecture was hit by a 5,000-liter oil spill Friday after a nearby food processing plant stocked up on more oil than usual before a gas surcharge was reinstated earlier in the week. Iwamoto Co., based in the town of Nankan, had increased its stores of heavy oil to stock up before higher gasoline and other surcharges were reinstated Thursday by the government after the ruling bloc-controlled Lower House rammed through a related bill. The oil is used as fuel for boilers.

The appearance of ugly, polluting tar balls on the pristine beaches of Pernem recently point to the fact that ships continue to discharge oil into Goa's coastal waters in blatant violation of environmental norms governing the shipping industry.