A court in Ecuador has fined the America oil giant Chevron 8.6 billion dollars for polluting a large part of the country's Amazon region. The Texaco oil company which merged with Chevron in 2001 was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers. Campaigners say, crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoreans, in a case which dragged on for nearly two decades. Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal.