Chevron in Ecuador

The archive of the Clean Up Ecuador campaign website


News and Multimedia from 2006

Ecuador seeks Chevron probe

U.S. officials asked to look at rain forest contamination claim
23 December 2006 | San Francisco Chronicle

Ecuador's attorney general has asked U.S. officials to investigate Chevron Corp's alleged "fraud and deceit" connected with oil-field contamination in the Amazon rain forest, the latest salvo in a long-running legal dispute.     Read more...

Ecuador Attorney General Asks U.S. Justice Department to Investigate Chevron Fraud

Quito Claims Oil Giant Misrepresented Test Results In Rainforest Clean-Up
Amazon Watch

Ecuador has taken the unusual step of formally requesting the U.S. Justice Department investigate Chevron over a possible fraud to cover up what experts believe could be the largest oil-related contamination in the world. - one 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill.     Read more...

Myths and Facts About the Ecuador Disaster

Analyzing Chevron's Misleading Claims
20 November 2006

Document debunking 13 of Chevron's lies and distortions about its liability in Ecuador for the world’s worst oil-related environmental disaster.     Read more...

Investigation Cites Seven Examples of Chevron Fraud in Ecuador Rainforest

Indicates Oil Giant Paid Less Than 1% of Actual Cost Of Clean-Up, Then Lied About Results
15 November 2006 | Amazon Watch

A new investigative report on Chevron's controversial operations in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest details seven examples of fraud committed by the oil giant to hide a potential multi-billion dollar liability from shareholders and the financial markets.     Read more...

Mother Who Testified About Toxic Pollution In Chevron Rainforest Trial Dies of Cancer

Family In San Carlos Has Suffered Multiple Deaths
15 November 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

A woman with three teen-aged children from a community in the Amazon rainforest known as the "cancer zone" has died of the fatal disease just months after accusing Chevron in court testimony of having dumped tons of toxic waste near her small farm.     Read more...

Ecuadorians Seek Chevron Ruling

15 November 2006 | Associated Press

A lawyer for indigenous groups suing Chevron Corp. said Monday the judge should skip further analysis of wells and rule on their charge that the U.S. oil giant never properly cleaned up toxic pollution in a swath of Amazon jungle.     Read more...

Embattled Chevron Executive to Be Put Under Oath Today In $6 Billion Rainforest Lawsuit

Testimony of Reis Veiga Comes As New Report Details Chevron’s Growing Problems in Ecuador
8 November 2006 | Amazon Watch

Embattled Chevron Executive Richard Reis Veiga, already under investigation in Ecuador on fraud charges over his role in a botched environmental clean-up, is scheduled to be put under oath today by Ecuador's government as part of a multi-billon dollar civil case in U.S. federal court to determine who pays for what experts believe is the world's worst oil-related contamination.     Read more...

Amnesty International Issues Second Urgent Action To Protect Team Suing Chevron Over Rainforest Disaster

Cites "Grave Danger" In Ecuador over Historic Environmental Lawsuit
7 November 2006 | Amazon Watch

Amnesty International has issued a second "urgent action" bulletin citing "grave danger" in Ecuador for members of a team of lawyers and scientists suing the U.S. corporation Chevron after an attempted robbery of the woman who serves as a press spokesperson for the group.     Read more...

Report on Texaco's Fraudulent "Remediation" in the 1990s

November 2006

This report, assembled by the Amazon Defense Coalition, identifies the major ways in which Texaco's alleged remediation of its contaminated waste pits from 1995 to 1998 was a fraud, and in fact left high levels of contamination at many sites.     Read more...

Amnesty International Bulletin on Threats and Intimidation

Ecuador: Further Information on Fear for Safety
3 November 2006 | Amnesty International

In response to reports of threats and attacks on members of the legal and scientific team challenging Chevron in Ecuador, Amnesty International issued an "urgent action bulletin" to draw attention to the danger faced by these individuals.     Read more...

Amazon Watch Letter to Chevron CEO Regarding Apparent Intimidation of Ecuador Plaintiffs

31 October 2006 | Amazon Watch

Amazon Watch sent this letter to Chevron CEO David O'Reilly, urging the company to clearly disassociate itself from attempts to intimidate and harm members of the plaintiffs' legal team in Ecuador, and to launch an investigation of those actions.     Read more...

Amazon Watch Letter to Chevron CEO Regarding Apparent Intimidation of Ecuador Plaintiffs

31 October 2006

Amazon Watch sent this letter to Chevron CEO David O'Reilly, urging the company to clearly disassociate itself from attempts to intimidate and harm members of the plaintiffs' legal team in Ecuador, and to launch an investigation of those actions.     Read more...

Trial Team In Chevron's $6 Billion Ecuador Rainforest Suit Faces New Threats

Amnesty International ‘Urgent Action’ Prompts 600 Letters From 22 Countries To Ecuador’s Government
30 October 2006 | Amazon Watch

More than 600 people from 22 countries have sent letters to Ecuador's government demanding protection for the legal team suing Chevron in a landmark $6 billion pollution trial in Ecuador's rainforest after a series of new threats.     Read more...

Chronology of Intimidation Attempts

26 October 2006

This document outlines the various threats, burglaries and other attempts to intimidate members of the plaintiffs' legal team in Ecuador that occurred in a disturbing pattern during 2005 and 2006.     Read more...

Corporate Accountability Campaigns on Coke, Shell, Chevron Receive BENNY Awards

19 October 2006 | Business Ethics Network

The premier international network of corporate accountability campaigners the Business Ethics Network (BEN) has announced its annual BENNY Awards for outstanding achievement in advancing corporate ethics. The awards were announced at the BEN annual conference held in Sonoma County, California.     Read more...

UC Berkeley's Law School and Human Rights Center to Examine Chevron's Ecuador Legacy

Amazon Watch and Environmental Lawyer Will Address Meeting on Landmark Class-Action Lawsuit
9 October 2006 | Amazon Watch

The environmental and human catastrophe allegedly wrought by Chevron in the Ecuadorian Amazon will be under the spotlight at the University of California, Berkeley this week at a talk on the landmark $6 billion class-action lawsuit against the oil major.     Read more...

Chevron Employees Urged to Stand Up to Management over $6 Billion Ecuador Disaster

Direct Appeal Made By Amazon Watch To Save Indigenous Lives In Rainforest
29 September 2006 | Amazon Watch

A leading environmental group today urged thousands of Chevron employees to challenge company management over the oil company's continued refusal to clean up billions of gallons of toxic waste dumped into Ecuador's rainforest over a 28-year period.     Read more...

Open Letter to Chevron Employees

29 September 2006

This 2006 letter warns Chevron employees that their company has not told them the full truth about its responsibility in Ecuador, and urges them to help Chevron do the right thing and become an industry leader by funding a full remediation in Ecuador.     Read more...

Oil troubles in Ecuador

An indigenous group is battling Chevron in court over contamination from decades of drilling. OTIS HART breaks down the case some call 'Chevron in Ecuador.'
28 September 2006 | Associated Press

The Cofan nation, an indigenous people from the Ecuador-Colombia border region, is part of a class-action suit that claims Texaco was careless when it drilled for oil between 1964 and 1992, and that the area remains badly polluted.     Read more...

September 2006 Report

New Results Suggest Chevron Faces Mounting Liability
13 September 2006

As the historic $6 billion pollution trial against Chevron in Ecuador nears its final phase, the latest scientific results demonstrate that the company faces a massive potential liability for creating levels of toxicity in the rainforest up to thousands of times higher than permitted by Ecuadorian and U.S. law.     Read more...

KPFA's Against the Grain Explores the Landmark Environmental Class-Action Lawsuit Against Chevron in Ecuador

12 September 2006 | KPFA

Amazon Watch's Simeon Tegel discusses the landmark environmental class-action lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador on KPFA's Against the Grain.     Read more...

Evidence of Contamination at "Remediated" Sites

This table shows evidence from the 2005 and 2006 judicial inspections that every site supposedly remediated by Chevron in the 1990s continues to have illegal levels of contamination.     Read more...

Ruling Will Hasten Long-Running Pollution Case in Ecuador

28 August 2006 | Oil Daily

In the latest development in the ongoing litigation between Chevron and communities of a remote Amazon region in Ecuador, a judge in Ecuador ruled in favor of a plaintiffs' motion to reduce the number of oil field inspections in the high-profile pollution case, a decision that could hasten a verdict in the more than decade-long trial.     Read more...

In Blow to Chevron, Ecuador Court Cancels 64 Judicial Inspections in Rainforest Trial

Decision Should Move $6 Billion Case Toward Faster Conclusion, Say Indigenous Groups and Lawyers
25 August 2006 | Amazon Watch

In a major blow to Chevron in its $6 billion class-action pollution trial in Ecuador, a judge this week canceled almost all of the remaining judicial inspections sought by the parties in a move to speed the case toward a final decision.     Read more...

2006 Amazon Defense Coalition Letter on Chevron's Efforts to Delay Ecuador Trial

25 August 2006

This statement by the Amazon Defense Coalition defends plaintiffs' legal team's decision to withdraw their request for 64 inspections they had initially requested. This decision, taken in order to expedite the trial, is consistent with Ecuadorian law and legal principles accepted worldwide. The plaintiffs need only present as much evidence as they feel is needed to conclusively prove their case.     Read more...

Embattled Chevron Executive Cancels Press Event In Ecuador

Reis Veiga Was To Defend Against Fraud Charges Filed In U.S. Court Over Toxic Dumping
9 August 2006 | Amazon Watch

Chevron canceled a much-anticipated press conference this week in Ecuador where embattled executive Ricardo Reis Veiga was to defend the company against fraud charges over toxic dumping filed in a U.S. federal court by Ecuador's top law enforcement agency.     Read more...

Chevron Faces Fraud Charges In Ecuador Over Toxic Dumping In Amazon Rainforest

Embattled Chevron Executive Forced To Appear In Quito To Explain Company’s Flawed Remediation
7 August 2006 | Amazon Watch

Embattled Chevron executive Ricardo Reis Veiga is to appear in Quito this week to defend the company against fraud charges filed by Ecuador's top law enforcement agency as Chevron faces a widening circle of criminal and civil investigations in two countries over its environmental remediation in the Amazon rainforest.     Read more...

Activists Protest Chevron Meeting

Environmentalists, human rights workers pepper shareholders with criticism over issues in Ecuador and Nigeria
27 April 2006 | Contra Costa Times

A face-off Wednesday between activists, angered by pollution in the Ecuadorian rain forest, and the top executives of San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. moved from deliberate politeness to barely disguised frustration.     Read more...

Chevron CEO O'Reilly Blasted By Amazon Residents and Scientists Over Ecuador Disaster

Amazon Watch Seeks Independent Board Review of Handling Of $6 Billion Litigation
26 April 2006 | Amazon Watch

Two rainforest leaders sparked a dramatic showdown with Chevron CEO David O'Reilly today over the oil major's devastating $6 billion toxic contamination of their ancestral lands in Ecuador's Amazon region.     Read more...

Two Ecuadoreans Plan to Voice Concern at Chevron Meeting

25 April 2006 | Associated Press

Two Ecuadoreans said Tuesday they plan to confront Chevron Corp.'s CEO during its shareholders meeting this week over allegations that an Amazon rain forest has been contaminated by waste disposal from oil drilling operations.     Read more...

With Enron As Backdrop, Chevron Faces Mounting Corporate Governance Problems Of Its Own

SEC Complaint, Fraud Probe Over Ecuador Oil Disaster Raise Stakes as Concerned Shareholders Converge in Houston
Rainforest Indigenous Leader To Confront CEO David O’Reilly

25 April 2006 | Amazon Watch

Chevron CEO David O'Reilly and the company's top management have come to Enron's hometown for the annual shareholder's meeting only to face a rising tide of corporate governance problems over their handling of a potential multi-billion liability for oil contamination in Ecuador's rainforest.     Read more...

Chevron Hires "Hit Man" Anthropologist To Rewrite Indigenous History In Amazon

Shoddy Scholarship Infects Report Submitted To Court To Hide Possible Genocide Committed By Chevron Against Cofan
24 April 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Chevron's "hired gun" anthropologist, Dr. Eduardo Bedoya, has attempted to rewrite the indigenous history of the Cofan without interviewing a single member of the Cofan people, who are struggling to survive due to Chevron's extensive oil contamination in Ecuador's Amazon region.     Read more...

The Morning Show Examines Chevron's Ecuador Disaster

21 April 2006 | Morning Show, KPFA 94.1fm

Chevron Runs Amok in Ecuador - Interview with Steven Donzigor, attorney for the plaintiffs, and Leila Salazar-Lopez, Clean Up Ecuador organizer.     Read more...

Indigenous Lawsuit Targets Texaco

A lawsuit demanding Texaco clean up the region in Ecuador where it operated from 1972 to 1990 is a new model for international legal battles
19 April 2006 | Miami Herald

For years, Jose Garcia and his wife, Maria, drank, bathed and washed their clothes in river waters amidst the jungle, plantations and oil wells of eastern Ecuador. Today, Garcia, 36, a slender, sun-baked farmer, blames Texaco for his wife's uterine cancer and his own skin fungus infections.     Read more...

Chevron's Waste Management "Illegal", Experts Conclude

14 April 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Chevron's dumping of massive amounts of toxic waste in the Ecuadorian Amazon was a deliberate flouting of Ecuadorian law and best industry practice that knowingly threatened the health of local residents, an expert report has concluded.     Read more...

Chevron's "Attack and Distract" Campaign Hits New Low

Cornered By Evidence of Catastrophe, Company Attacks Lawyers And Experts For Affected Communities
14 April 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Cornered by growing corporate governance problems and evidence that it is guilty of a massive oil contamination of the Amazon rainforest, lawyers for Chevron have invented a new round of bogus allegations as part of its ongoing "attack and distract" campaign designed to divert attention from the scientific results in a historic multi-billion dollar environmental trial.     Read more...

Chevron's Sampling Deliberately Underestimates Contamination, Report Warns

13 April 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

An expert report submitted to the Ecuadorian court in Chevron's landmark environmental trial alleges that the oil major's sampling and analysis methods are deliberately designed to avoid contamination.     Read more...

Report on Texaco's Waste Dumping Practices

5 April 2006

This study examines Texaco's handling of toxic waste and produced water in its operations in Ecuador, and concludes that the company knowingly used sub-standard environmental controls that it would not have used in its operations in the United States.     Read more...

March 2006 Summary of Evidence from Judicial Inspections

Latest Scientific Results Show Overwhelming Contamination in Former Texaco Concessions
17 March 2006

Scientific analyses of hundreds of water and oil samples taken from former Texaco concessions in the Ecuadorian Amazon now paint a detailed picture of the devastating toxic contamination left by the oil giant. The results are pivotal to the landmark class-action lawsuit brought in Ecuador by 30,000 rainforest dwellers against Chevron (formerly ChevronTexaco).     Read more...

Cornered By Evidence, Chevron Resorts To Increasingly Desperate Measures In Ecuador

Chevron Lawyers Harass Independent Laboratory To Hide Their Own Illegal Sampling Analyses
22 March 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Chevron is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to cover its tracks in the landmark environmental trial in Ecuador in which the oil giant faces a $6 billion clean-up tab.     Read more...

Judge Expected to Rule on Validity of Chevron's Scientific Results After Lab Snafu

Chevron's U.S. Laboratory Operated Without Official Permit From Ecuadorian Government
15 March 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

The laboratory used by Chevron to analyze scientific evidence in a landmark environmental trial in Ecuador operated without official permits from the Ecuadorian authorities, potentially leading to another major setback for the oil giant in the closely watched legal case.     Read more...

300 Community Members Observe San Carlos Judicial Inspection in Ecuadorian Amazon

Military Blocks Community Participation
10 March 2006 | Amazon Watch

The first field inspection of 2006 by the judge in a landmark environmental lawsuit against Chevron in the Ecuadorian Amazon took place this week near San Carlos, a small rainforest town with skyrocketing rates of cancer.     Read more...

Report on Chevron's Deceptive Sampling Techniques

8 March 2006

This 2006 report analyzes the soil sampling and analysis techniques used by Chevron's experts at sites under inspection in Ecuador. It concludes that Chevron used methods that were calculated in several ways to minimize or hide evidence of contamination.     Read more...

Chevron Faces Human Rights Questions in Ecuador Lawsuit, Warns Amazon Watch

6 March 2006 | Amazon Watch

Chevron faces serious questions about its human rights record in Ecuador's rainforest following a disturbing pattern of threats and corruption in a landmark environmental trial where the oil giant is a defendant, according to Amazon Watch, an environmental group monitoring the case.     Read more...

Plaintiffs' Letter to US Trade Representative

3 March 2006

Letter from plaintiffs' legal team to Ambassador Rob Portman, written in 2006, about Chevron's efforts to undermine the judicial process in Ecuador through political maneuvering. Chevron has urged the U.S. to make trade preferences for Ecuador contingent on its dismissal of the lawsuit against Chevron, preventing 30,000 Ecuadorian citizens from having their day in court.     Read more...

More Pressure On SEC To Investigate Chevron For Hiding Massive Environmental Liability In Rainforest

1 March 2006 | Amazon Watch

Chevron distorted the results of a court report in Ecuador to hide a multi-billion liability it faces in a landmark environmental trial in the Amazon over what locals dub the "Rainforest Chernobyl", Amazon Watch has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission in a follow-up letter to a complaint the environmental group lodged with the regulator last month.     Read more...

2006 Letter to SEC on Chevron Misinformation Campaign

28 February 2006 | Amazon Watch

This letter from Amazon Watch, a follow-up to a letter to the SEC about Chevron's failure to disclose its potential Ecuador liability to shareholders, warns the SEC of a misleading public relations campaign by Chevron intended to keep investors and the public in the dark. In the PR blitz in question, Chevron painted a very inaccurate picture of the results from the judicial inspection at the Sacha-53 well site, in order to downplay the significance of the evidence against the company.     Read more...

Request for Trial Observers

23 February 2006

In 2006, the Amazon Defense Coalition wrote to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to request trial observers to protect the integrity of the judicial process. This was motivated by a series of threats and attacks against plaintiffs' legal defenders and associates, and by a pattern of corruption and extrajudicial pressure. This pattern included an attempt by Chevron's close associates in the military to cancel judicial inspections based on a bogus, unsubstantiated allegation of a security threat.     Read more...

Plaintiffs' Lawyers' Letter to International Commission of Jurists

23 February 2006 | Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia

Letter from plaintiffs' lawyers in 2006 requesting neutral trial observers to ensure that the judicial inspections could proceed properly and that the Chevron trial would be held to high standards of fairness and transparency. The letter was written in response to a pattern of threats and intimidation of members of the plaintiffs' legal team, as well as apparent efforts by Chevron's military associates to cancel or postpone judicial inspections that might reflect badly on Chevron.     Read more...

Chevron, Plaintiffs Dispute Findings of Court Experts Report

7 February 2006 | Business News Americas

US oil company Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and plaintiffs against the company in a lawsuit over environmental remediation by Chevron's former subsidiary Texpet in Ecuador's Amazon region are disputing the interpretation of a technical report by a group of court-appointed experts in the case.     Read more...

Two U.S. Senators Express Concern Over Chevron Lobbying Tactics In Nation's Capital

Sens. Leahy and Obama Ask USTR Not To Let Chevron Interfere In Ecuador Trade Talks
14 February 2006 | Amazon Watch

Already under fire for its record profits, Chevron is coming under increasing scrutiny in the nation's capital over its attempts to use U.S. trade negotiations with Ecuador to undermine a historic environmental lawsuit brought against the oil giant by residents of Ecuador's rainforest.     Read more...

Group Claims Chevron Hasn't Owned Up to Ecuador Liability

10 February 2006 | EcoAmericas

As its pollution trial in Ecuador creeps along, the oil giant Chevron is being accused by a U.S. environmental group of failing to inform shareholders adequately of its potential legal liability for contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon.     Read more...

Woes Mount for Oil Firms in Ecuador

9 February 2006 | Christian Science Monitor

No one said running a multinational company was easy. But for energy firms that depend on the steady flow of oil and gas from remote, often unstable, parts of the world, just keeping the pipelines secure can be a feat.     Read more...

Group Asks SEC to Probe Chevron's Handling of Ecuador Case

9 February 2006 | Oil Daily

Amazon Watch has asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate Chevron for violating its regulations by failing to inform shareholders about the environmental liabilities involved in a decade long class action lawsuit in Ecuador.     Read more...

Two Senators Urge USTR Not to Intervene in Suit

7 February 2006 | Roll Call

Two Democratic Senators have sent U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman a letter urging the trade negotiator's office not to intervene in a lawsuit filed against Chevron in Ecuador.     Read more...

Chevron Slammed in New Court Report for Leaving Toxins in Rainforest

After Fraud Complaint to SEC, Chevron Tries to "Spin" Shareholders with Misleading Press Bulletin
5 February 2006 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Chevron has issued a press release misrepresenting the results of a court report in a historic trial that found life-threatening levels of toxic contamination at one of the company's well sites, say technical advisors to the Amazon Defense Coalition, the group representing 30,000 people suing the oil giant.     Read more...

Senators' Letter to US Trade Representative

2 February 2006

Letter from Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to Ambassador Rob Portman, written in 2006, about Chevron's efforts to undermine the judicial process in Ecuador through political maneuvering. Chevron has urged the U.S. to make trade preferences for Ecuador contingent on its dismissal of the lawsuit against Chevron, preventing 30,000 Ecuadorian citizens from having their day in court.     Read more...

Amazon Watch Asks SEC to Investigate Chevron Violations Over Ecuador Catastrophe

Management Hiding From Shareholders Potential Multi-Billion Dollar Legal Liability Over "Rainforest Chernobyl", Group Says
1 February 2006 | Amazon Watch

Amazon Watch today formally requested that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigate the Chevron Corp. for repeatedly failing to report in its SEC filings a potential multi-billion dollar liability arising from its massive toxic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon.     Read more...

2006 Memorandum on Chevron's SEC Filings

30 January 2006

This memorandum accompanied an Amazon Watch letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging an investigation of Chevron for failing to disclose its Ecuador liability. The memo details the significance of the Ecuador litigation and the legal reasons why Chevron should have been required to disclose information about it to shareholders.     Read more...

2006 Letter to SEC Chairman

30 January 2006 | Amazon Watch

This letter from Amazon Watch asks the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate Chevron for failing to disclose its potential enormous liability in Ecuador to its shareholders. For years, Chevron made no mention of the Ecuador litigation in its annual SEC filings, despite regulations that require companies to report such liabilities.     Read more...

Chevron Wins 2006 Corporate "Irresponsibility" Award In Davos For Contaminating Amazon

25 January 2006 | Amazon Watch

Chevron's troubled brand image took another battering today after the California-based oil giant won the 2006 Public Eye on Davos Award for corporate irresponsibility in the environment category during a ceremony coinciding with the Davos World Economic Forum.     Read more...

Selling the Amazon for a Handful of Beads

17 January 2006 | Democracy Now & AlterNet

Scanning bookshelves in his tiny law office in Quito, Ecuador, Bolivar Beltran's disdain for Big Oil is as legible as the contracts that map their nefarious ways.     Read more...

Chevron Fights Rights Abuse Allegations

1 January 2006 | Associated Press

A young boy holds out a deformed hand. A woman is missing a lower leg that was amputated to remove a tumor. A gaunt middle-aged man lays in a hammock dying of stomach cancer.     Read more...