A tribunal convened at the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that former settlement agreements protected Chevron from paying to Ecuador a $19 billion fine for polluting the Amazon basin region.  According to the press release, the tribunal, which was convened under the authority of the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty and under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Rules, "found that the Settlement and Release Agreements that the Government of Ecuador entered into with [Texaco Petroleum Company (TexPet)] in 1995 and 1998 released TexPet and its affiliates of any liability for all public interest or collective environmental claims."  The Tribunal further found that: "1) Chevron and TexPet are 'Releasees' under the 1995 Settlement Agreement and the 1998 Final Release; 2) Chevron can invoke and enforce its contractual rights as a Releasee; and 3) the Government settled all public interest or collective environmental claims, including collective claims asserted by third parties."