Chevron Corp Practices in Equador Exposed. Amazon Watch Press Releases...

[Toruk Makto]

Press releases from AmazonWatch.org:
This post will be updated as needed...

Oct 20, 2010 -- Ecuador Bishop Criticizes Chevron for Its Role in World's Largest Oil-Related Catastrophe...
Seeks Assistance of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops As Humanitarian Crisis Worsens
Lago Agrio, Ecuador – In another blow to Chevron's image, a prominent Bishop who lives in the area of Ecuador where Chevron is embroiled in a multi-billion environmental lawsuit, has strongly criticized the oil giant for harming local residents with toxic contamination, it was learned today. Gonzalo Lopez Marañon, Bishop of Seleuciana, made the criticism in a letter to the U.S. Conference... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2187

Oct 18, 2010 -- Chevron's Misleading Ad Campaign Ignores Toxic Legacy in Ecuador Rainforest...
New Video Provides Devastating Proof of Chevron Toxic Pits in Ecuador
Chevron's abandonment of hundreds of toxic waste pits in Ecuador is being highlighted in a new video by the environmental group Amazon Watch as leaders of indigenous groups from that country blasted the oil giant for launching a misleading advertising campaign designed to cover up its massive environmental liabilities. The video, which can be seen here, shows the devastating effects of the pits... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2186

Oct 14, 2010 -- Chevron's Ecuador Cancer Problem: 10,000 People at Risk of Contracting Disease in Coming Decades, Says Expert...
Oil Giant Faces Up to $69 Billion in Liability for Potential Cancer Deaths
Quito, Ecuador – Almost 10,000 people in Ecuador face a significant risk of contracting cancer in the coming decades due to Chevron's refusal to clean up the billions of gallons of oil waste it dumped into the rain forest, a leading American expert has reported to the Ecuador court where Chevron is a defendant in a multi-billion dollar environmental trial. The cancer assessment was presented... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2185

Oct 12, 2010 -- Chevron's Lead Ecuador Expert Suffers Major Blow to Credibility in U.S. Trial, Court Documents Say...
Chevron Hit With $19 Million Judgment After Jury Rejects John Connor's Testimony
John Connor, Chevron's lead American expert in its multi-billion dollar Ecuador environmental trial, suffered a major blow to his credibility when a U.S. jury rejected his testimony and delivered a $19 million judgment against the oil giant for causing mental retardation to several Mississippi residents exposed to its leaking gas tanks, according to court papers provided this week by lawyers on the... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2184

Oct 06, 2010 -- Chevron Hit Hard In Sworn Testimony Over Massive Ecuador Liability...
Gibson Dunn Lawyer Flies Into Panic As American Expert Provides Devastating Evidence
Denver, CO – One of Chevron's lawyers at the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher flew into a panic during a recent deposition when an American consulting expert began to testify about the massive quantities of toxins dumped by the oil giant in Ecuador, where Chevron faces a multi-billion dollar legal liability, according to court papers filed recently. Chevron is being sued by more than 3... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2183

Oct 01, 2010 -- Chevron Misleads U.S. Courts with Inaccurate Translation in Multi-Billion Dollar Ecuador Contamination Lawsuit...
Gibson Dunn's Aggressive Legal Strategy Backfires In Federal Court
Chevron has been submitting an inaccurate and misleading translation to U.S. federal courts as part of its effort to evade liability in the multi-billion dollar Ecuador environmental lawsuit, according to court papers filed recently. Chevron's lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, who recently took over the Ecuador litigation for the company, submitted a highly misleading and inaccurate translation... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2182

Sep 23, 2010 -- Steven Donziger Response to Chevron's Campaign to Deflect Attention from Its Liability...
for Massive Oil-Related Environmental Contamination in Ecuador
Steven Donziger, one of the attorneys representing the Ecuadorian plaintiffs, said today in response to a hearing in the federal Southern District Court of New York concerning Chevron's attempt to seek discovery of privileged attorney-client communications and work product from the Aguinda vs. Chevron lawsuit: "Chevron's efforts to smear those acting to hold the oil giant accountable... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2177

Sep 22, 2010 -- Federal Judge Hits Chevron Over Ecuador Litigation Tactics...
Says Oil Giant's Legal Motions Are "Spiraling Out of Control"
A federal magistrate judge in Tennessee told Chevron yesterday that he would sharply limit any further discovery of a scientific consultant for the Amazonian communities suing for the clean-up of what is believed to be the world's worst oil-related disaster, according to court papers in the case. Judge Joe B. Brown, in an order, limited further discovery by Chevron and ruled that the oil giant... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2175

Sep 17, 2010 -- Chevron Faces Tens of Billions in Clean-up Costs; Potential Death Toll Put at 10,000 in Ecuador Rainforest...
Top American Technical Experts Weigh In On High-Profile Damages Case
Lago Agrio, Ecuador – A group of highly respected American technical and medical experts, using conservative assumptions, have concluded that it could cost Chevron up to tens of billions of dollars to clean up oil waste discharged into Ecuador's rainforest and compensate local communities for the damage it caused over the 26 years it operated a large oil concession, according to valuation assessment... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2173

Sep 15, 2010 -- New Damages Assessments Due Thursday in Ecuador, but Chevron Refusing to Participate...
Judge Has More than 100 Expert Reports as Oil Giant Continues to Obstruct Judicial Process
New damages assessments from both Chevron and the Amazonian communities are due in Ecuador's court Thursday, but Chevron has indicated it likely will refuse to participate despite complaining previously it never had the opportunity to submit its own damages report. For more than two years, Chevron has protested a previous $27 billion report submitted by court-appointed expert Richard Cabrera. ... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2171

Sep 14, 2010 -- Lawsuit Targets Chevron "Dirty Tricks" Operative Over Ecuador Video Corruption Scandal...
Chevron's Diego Borja Faces Deposition in U.S. Over Activities In Ecuador
Chevron employee Diego Borja, the oil giant's self-proclaimed "dirty tricks" operative in Ecuador, has been targeted with a subpoena and deposition demand in California where he now lives on Chevron's payroll within miles of its global headquarters, the Los Angeles/San Francisco Daily Journal reported today. Borja, who has worked for Chevron in Ecuador from at least 2004 until the video scandal... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2168

Sep 13, 2010 -- Chevron Fraud Evidence Mounts in Ecuador...
Bogus Lab Tests, Threats against Plaintiffs Counsel, Ex Parte Meetings with Judge Paint Nasty Picture of Oil Giant's Litigation Tactics
Evidence of fraud by Chevron is mounting in Ecuador, dealing the oil giant a potentially crippling blow as it faces a potential multi-billion judgment for environmental damage, representatives of the Amazonian communities asserted today. "Chevron's true complaint is not with the Ecuadorian courts, but with the evidence of its own wrongdoing" In a series of recent court filings in federal court... Full Story
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2165

Sep 13, 2010 -- Chevron Fraud in Ecuador: Response to Fortune.com Article...
The Amazon Defense Coalition issued the following response today to an article that appeared today on Fortune.com about the oil contamination lawsuit against Chevron, filed by Ecuadorians living in the contaminated area: Roger Parloff's legal analysis in Fortune (Evidence of fraud mounts in Ecuadorian suit against Chevron, September 13) is one-sided and fails to adequately capture the enormous ... Full Story:
http://amazonwatch.org/newsroom/view_news.php?id=2166

[Toruk Makto]

Well, the Funny or Die folks are at it again, with a humorous look at how Chevron came up with its latest PR campaign. And while Will Ferrell's comedy website FunnyorDie.com is featuring this "Anatomy of a Greenwash" video, a contest for the best parody ads and TV commercials is also getting loads of brilliant entries at www.ChevronThinksWereStupid.org.

Since we put out the call for supporters to help us expose Chevron by creating mock print and TV ads that spoof the company's new "We Agree" ad campaign, the response has been inspiring. Far from cleaning up the company's image, Chevron's latest attempts at greenwashing have actually galvanized a grassroots effort to demand an end to Chevron's dirty and destructive business as usual.

There have been so many excellent submissions to the contest that we couldn't decide which spoof ad should win, so we put it to a vote. Go vote yourself at www.ChevronThinksWereStupid.org.

The contest ends Thursday at 5pm EST, so there's also still time to submit your own parody ads and satiric TV commercials, and invite your friends to vote for yours!

Winners will receive a printed and framed copy of their ad signed by The Yes Men, and the winning ads will also be mass-produced and distributed across the country to be posted publicly by our grassroots supporters (let us know if you can help!)

From a pop culture powerhouse like Funny or Die to supporters like you, we're inspired by the efforts to expose Chevron's new ad campaign as a deceptive and cynical greenwash. These efforts – sometimes funny, other times deadly serious – are highlighting the hypocrisy of Chevron saying that "oil companies should support communities they're a part of," while waging an abusive legal, political, and PR campaign to evade accountability for its toxic mess in Ecuador.

Check out the hilarious new video and vote for your favorite ad parodies at www.ChevronThinksWereStupid.org.

These efforts are sending a clear message to Chevron; that until the company takes responsibility in Ecuador, and makes concrete changes to the way it operates, everything they say will be challenged by a growing chorus of people demanding justice.






Cheers,

Han Shan
Coordinator, Clean Up Ecuador Campaign

[Toruk Makto]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 14, 2011

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Caroline Bennett, Amazon Watch, 510.520.9390
Nell Greenberg, Rainforest Action Network, 510.847.9777


Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network Statement on Ecuador Court Ruling Against Chevron

Evidence Prevails Over Oil Giant's Intimidation Tactics

San Francisco – Today a court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador has ruled in favor of the residents of Ecuador's Amazon region who have spent the last 18 years seeking damages for crude oil pollution. Chevron inherited the suit when it bought Texaco in 2001, and has denied the allegations of environmental damage.

Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network, who have spent years working to help the Ecuadorian people and protect the Amazon, release the following statement in response to today's verdict:

"As of today, Chevron's guilt for extensive oil contamination in the Amazon rainforest is official. It is time Chevron takes responsibility for these environmental and public health damages, which they have fought for the past 18 years.

"Today's ruling in Ecuador against Chevron proves overwhelmingly that the oil giant is responsible for billions of gallons of highly toxic waste sludge deliberately dumped into local streams and rivers, which thousands depend on for drinking, bathing, and fishing.

"Chevron has spent the last 18 years waging unprecedented public relations and lobbying campaigns to avoid cleaning up the environmental and public health catastrophe it left in the Amazon rainforest. Today's guilty verdict sends a loud and clear message: It is time Chevron clean up its disastrous mess in Ecuador.

"Today's case is historic and unprecedented. It is the first time Indigenous people have sued a multinational corporation in the country where the crime was committed and won.

"Today's historic ruling against Chevron is a testament to the strength of the Ecuadorian people who have spent 18 years bringing Chevron to justice while suffering the effects of the company's extensive oil contamination."

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Rainforest Action Network runs hard-hitting campaigns to break North America's addiction to fossil fuels, protect endangered forests and indigenous rights, and stop destructive investments through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.

Founded in 1996, Amazon Watch is a non-profit environmental and human rights organization working to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin.

[Kayrìlien]

I saw this story (fleetingly) mentioned on Yahoo! News; apparently the ruling involves $8.5 billion in damages. Hopefully it stands and doesn't get chopped off at the knees like the Exxon Valdez settlement. Maybe the money will actually do something to reverse the decades of environmental damages.

Kayrìlien

[Toruk Makto]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 15, 2011

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kevin Koenig, +593.9.7949041, [email protected]
Han Shan, +593.9.8991870, [email protected]
Caroline Bennett, 415.487.9600, [email protected]  

Chevron Found Guilty in Landmark Trial; Plaintiffs Respond
Oil giant ordered to pay record $9 billion to Ecuadorian rainforest communities

B-ROLL and interviews with affected communities available upon request


Quito, Ecuador – Plaintiffs gathered in Quito after oil giant Chevron was found guilty yesterday of massive environmental contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon and was ordered to pay $9 billion in fines in one of the largest environmental damages awards on record. The ruling comes after more than 17 years of litigation brought by thousands of indigenous peoples and farmers still living amidst deadly contamination in the northeastern Amazon region of Ecuador.

"This is a great victory," said Emergildo Criollo, a Cofán leader and plaintiff in the case who lives in the northern Amazon in Ecuador, a region that remains devastated by contamination. "Our fight won't stop until Chevron is held accountable and pays for all the damage it left in the Amazon Rainforest."

Superior Court Judge Nicolas Zambrano handed down the decision in the small jungle town of Lago Agrio, levying fines for the company's deliberate dumping of 18.5 billion gallons of highly toxic waste into Amazonian ecosystems, contaminating the soil, rivers, and groundwater for over three decades. In addition to his ruling of $9 billion, which incudes a legally mandated 10% for the Amazon Defense Coalition who brought the case, the judge added an additional $8.6 billion in punitive damages if Chevron fails to publicly apologize for its wrongdoing within 15 days.

The judgment ranks second in environmental damage cases behind the $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility for the BP Gulf spill and is the first time an American company has been held accountable in foreign courts for environmental crimes abroad.

"This is a great moment for the thousands of Ecuadorians who have waged an epic battle to hold Chevron accountable for one of the worst oil-related disasters on the planet," said Kevin Koenig, Northern Amazon Coordinator at Amazon Watch. "This verdict vindicates what indigenous peoples and local residents have been saying, and suffering from, for decades- that Chevron drilled, dumped, and never looked back."

The decision is unprecedented not only for the size of the judgment but also for the scale of contamination that Chevron left behind. Chevron inherited the litigation in 2001 when it absorbed Texaco, who operated in Ecuador between 1964 and 1992 in a concession spanning more than one million acres of rainforest near the Colombian border. Trial evidence provided by a team of experts appointed by the court to assess damages showed that 100% of Texaco's former oil production sites in Ecuador are highly contaminated with cancer-causing toxins.

"Justice does exist," said Guillermo Grefa, a Kichwa representative to the Assembly of Affected Communities who brought the class action suit on behalf of 30,000 residents of the Amazon region. "I can now dream of drinking clean water, water with no oil residue, and that the earth will begin to clean and heal."

As the sole operator of an oil consortium that included Ecuador's state oil company, Texaco designed, built, and maintained an oil production system of 327 wells. Using antiquated technology and in violation of standard industry practice, the company dumped 18.5 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into streams and rivers, spilled some 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left behind more than 1000 waste pits that continue to leech toxins into surrounding soil and water. The pollution has caused a spike in cancer rates and decimated the cultures of various indigenous groups in the area, according to the lawsuit.

The closely watched litigation was filed in 1993 in US federal court and transferred to Ecuador at Chevron's request. During its arguments to move the action to Ecuador, the company filed 14 expert affidavits praising Ecuador's courts as fair and adequate, although in recent months—as the evidence turned against it—Chevron has attacked the court process, claiming it is biased.

"This is a historic victory for human rights, environmental justice, and corporate accountability," said Han Shan of Amazon Watch. "Furthermore, the verdict against Chevron was based partly on the company's own evidence, and handed down in a court of the company's own choosing.

Chevron has vowed to fight enforcement of the decision and will appeal.

"It is a critical benchmark in a long struggle for justice," added Shan, "a struggle that will not end until the affected communities get the cleanup, clean water, and critical health care they need, and have sought for so long."




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