
Chevron faces environmental lawsuit after oil spill in California
- July 2, 2021
Chevron is facing an environmental lawsuit over its massive oil spill into a pristine lake in the Pacific Ocean, as the company faces new allegations of the chemical contamination of the lake.
In a lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the environmental group Earthjustice accuses Chevron of violating the Clean Water Act by leaking thousands of gallons of oil into the Lake Elsinore Lagoon in California.
Chevron says it has taken steps to clean up the spill site and that it plans to take the matter to court.
Environmental groups have long said that the spill was a serious environmental problem and that Chevron was not complying with federal environmental law.
Chevron denies the allegations, saying that the lake’s ecosystem is a critical habitat for salmon, the species which depend on it for their survival.
The company also says that the contamination is not significant enough to merit any significant damages.
Earthjustice said that its complaint accuses Chevron, which is based in San Francisco, of “gross negligence” in the spill, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of fish and other species.
According to the complaint, the oil company had drilled a well that was buried more than 1,000 feet below the surface.
Chevron’s wells in Lake Elgin, California, are also covered by federal and state pollution laws.
Chevron says it plans a cleanup of the spill in order to prevent further spills, which it says could occur during an oil spill.
“We are committed to working with the local and federal government to address the concerns raised by the public and protect our environment,” the company said in a statement.
Chavez’s father, Luis, a billionaire oil tycoon, was arrested in 2011 after a court found him guilty of environmental violations at his estate in Mexico.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that Chavez had not been properly compensated for the oil he produced in Mexico as part of his father’s oil exploration.