Ecuador probes oil companies over pollution

[struggle4progress]

Reuters
Saturday, February 3, 2007; 8:13 PM

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on Saturday the government would suspend contracts with any foreign oil company found to have needlessly damaged the environment.

"Any company ... state-run or private, that unnecessarily (damages) Ecuador's environment, or does not fulfill its contract, will face sanctions," Correa said in his weekly radio address.

Correa, a 43-year-old former economy minister, has made investors nervous by pledging to limit debt payments and rework foreign oil contracts to raise the government's share of booming oil revenues.

He said the government is investigating suspected irregularities committed by companies involving pollution in the country's Amazon jungle region ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/03/AR2007020301355.html