Chevron in Ecuador

The archive of the Clean Up Ecuador campaign website


News and Multimedia from 2011

Chevron Used Two Prominent U.S. Professors to Defraud Ecuador Court, Documents Reveal

Smoking Gun Evidence that Company Duped Its Own Paid Experts to Hide Presence of Cancer-causing toxins at Chevron Well Sites
29 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Even though it lost the historic $18 billion trial in Ecuador, Chevron continues to defraud Ecuador's appellate courts by refusing to disclose that it altered a key document to induce two U.S. academic "experts" to endorse fake testing methods to hide the presence of massive quantities of cancer-causing toxins at the company's former well sites in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, according to new documents released under federal court order.     Read more...

Chevron's $1 Billion Bribe Offer to Quash Legal Case Rocks Ecuador

Company Officials Not Denying That It Tried To Sabotage Historic Environmental Litigation
23 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Quito, Ecuador – Chevron is remaining silent in the face of mounting evidence that the company tried to bribe Ecuador's government to quash an $18 billion environmental judgment and that a Chevron official ordered the destruction of documents as part of a broad scheme to duck responsibility for causing extensive pollution in the Amazon rainforest, according to documents and news reports.     Read more...

Ivonne Baki Tried to Help Chevron Bribe Ecuador's Government to Thwart $18 Billion Environmental Case, Court Documents Suggest

Chevron Admits In Legal Papers That It Used Baki Repeatedly As Part of Its Lobbying Effort To Destroy Lawsuit
22 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Ivonne Baki, an Ecuadorian government official in charge of one of the world's most celebrated environmental initiatives, has had numerous contacts with Chevron's U.S.-based lawyers to assist the oil giant's illegal attempts to thwart a historic environmental case in Ecuador where Chevron was found liable for $18 billion in damages, according to Chevron's legal filings in a U.S. federal court case and sources within Ecuador's government.     Read more...

Chevron Used Secret Lab to Hide Dirty Soil Samples from Ecuador Court, Say Company Documents

Oil Giant Also Duped Its Own Paid Experts To Give False Testimony About Deceptive Sampling
20 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – In an ever more stunning expose of Chevron's fraud before the Ecuador court, a U.S. federal judge has ordered the disclosure of documents that demonstrate Chevron used a secret lab in the United States to hide the existence of dirty soil samples taken from the company's contaminated former well sites in the Amazon.     Read more...

Chevron Faces $30 Billion Liability for Environmental Problems in Latin America

Brazil, Ecuador Lawsuits Point to New Competitive Pressures
15 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Quito, Ecuador – Now that it is embroiled in a new $11 billion pollution lawsuit in Brazil, Chevron's total legal tab in Latin America for environmental problems is fast approaching $30 billion.     Read more...

Chevron's Ecuador Fraud Highlighted In Memo Ordering Destruction of Documents Related to Contamination

Key Chevron Official Ordered Personnel To Destroy Documents Relating to Pollution
14 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Quito, Ecuador – Chevron officials ordered the destruction of key documents as part of a broad scheme to hide the extent of the company's pollution in Ecuador's Amazon, a new document reveals.     Read more...

Federal Judge Sanctions Chevron Lawyers at Gibson Dunn for Harassing Witness in Ecuador Case

Oil Giant Scolded Yet Again by U.S. and Ecuadorian Courts
7 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Eugene, Oregon – Chevron's lead law firm in the $18 billion Ecuador environmental lawsuit, already under scrutiny for trying to mislead Congress, has been scolded and sanctioned by a federal judge for harassing a witness in a discovery action in Oregon.     Read more...

Chevron Sanctioned for Abusive Discovery Tactic

7 December 2011 | Courthouse News Service

Chevron must pay an Oregon-based nonprofit more than $32,000 for harassment during discovery related to an $18.2 billion judgment against the oil company for environmental damage in Ecuador, a federal judge ruled.     Read more...

Chevron, U.S. Chamber, and Prominent Law Firm Attempted to Mislead Congress Through False Testimony About Ecuador Environmental Case

Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest Ran Deep In Recent Committee Hearing On Foreign Judgments
5 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Washington, D.C. – Chevron, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and a leading partner at the American law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher tried to mislead Congress about the oil giant's $18 billion environmental liability in Ecuador.     Read more...

At Chevron's Tiger Woods World Challenge, Environmental Groups Scold CEO Watson From On High

Banner Blares From Circling Airplane: Clean Up Toxic Mess In Ecuador
4 December 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Thousand Oaks, CA – Two leading U.S.-based environmental groups are taking their fight over Chevron's oil catastrophe in Ecuador directly to CEO John S. Watson by sending an airplane to fly over the weekend rounds of the Tiger Woods-hosted Chevron World Challenge golf tournament in California.     Read more...

Chevron Challenged for Environmental Crimes at Golf Tournament

Groups Demand Company Follow Court Orders and Clean up Toxic Mess in Ecuador
3 December 2011 | Amazon Watch, RAN

Thousand Oaks, CA – An airplane with a banner will circle overhead for three hours on both days of the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament, calling on it to remediate the environmental disaster in Ecuador after three decades of contaminating the country's rainforest in reckless pursuit of profit.     Read more...

Chevron Named "Most Toxic" Energy Company of 2011

"Amazon Chernobyl" Disaster in Ecuador, Brazil Spill Lead to Embarrassing Award for CEO John Watson
24 November 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – The American oil giant Chevron has been named the "most toxic" energy company of 2011 by AlterNet, a prestigious U.S.-based online magazine that closely tracks environmental issues.     Read more...

Chevron's Latin America Image Tarnished

23 November 2011 | UPI

San Francisco, CA – Given Chevron's legacy in Ecuador, there's no reason to suspect the U.S. supermajor will act responsibility with Brazil's oil spill, opponents say.     Read more...

Beware of Chevron, Ecuadorians Tell Brazil

Chevron Contaminated Ecuador's Rainforest, Faked a Cleanup & Now Refuses To Pay $18 Billion Judgment
21 November 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Quito, Ecuador – Brazil should treat Chevron's claims about the oil spill off its coast with great skepticism given its track record of fraud related to their oil disaster in neighboring Ecuador, say Ecuadorian rainforest leaders.     Read more...

Chevron In Open Conflict With Brazil and Ecuador Over Worsening Oil Spills

American Company Faces Loss of Credibility With Oil Producing Nations in Latin America
18 November 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Quito, Ecuador – Chevron, which already faces allegations of fraud over an $18 billion liability in Ecuador for environmental damage, is being accused in Brazil of trying to cover up the extent of an oil spill caused by one of the company's offshore drilling rigs.     Read more...

Chevron's Ecuador Environmental Problems Pose Risks for Company's Strategic Projects In Australia

Prominent Australian Journalist Mike Monro Blasts Chevron On Television for Refusing to Clean Toxic Mess
26 October 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Chevron's $18 billion environmental liability in Ecuador is causing a whale of trouble for the oil giant's image in Australia where it still must clear regulatory hurdles to realize profits from two strategically critical natural gas projects.     Read more...

Chevron "Dirty Tricks" Operative Diego Borja Could Face Criminal Liability for Obstructing Ecuador Trial, Lawyer Concedes

Borja Claimed Chevron Tried to Corrupt Process That Led to $18 Billion Judgment Against Oil Giant
21 October 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

San Francisco, CA – Chevron's self-proclaimed "dirty tricks" operative Diego Borja – accused of trying to orchestrate a bribe to an Ecuador judge to undermine the environmental lawsuit against Chevron – could face potential criminal liability in the U.S. for his actions, according to an unusual admission in federal court made recently by his own lawyer.     Read more...

Chevron May Rethink Ecuador Strategy after US Court Move on Shell: Analyst

18 October 2011 | Platts

New York, NY – Chevron likely wants a resolution in the ongoing legal dispute over the former Texaco assets in Ecuador, Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit said Tuesday, adding that Monday's US Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case charging Shell for human rights violations in Nigeria could hold implications for Chevron.      Read more...

Chevron In Open Conflict with Ecuador Government to Evade Environmental Cleanup

Lobbyists and P.R. Firms Attack Ecuador to Evade $18 Billion Judgment As Chevron Lawyers Suffer Setbacks in Courts Around the World
10 October 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Washington, D.C. – Chevron is paying U.S. lobbyists and public relations firms millions of dollars to foment open conflict with Ecuador's government as part of a global strategy to evade paying an $18.2 billion court judgment for environmental contamination, according to public spending records and legal documents.     Read more...

The Amazon's Toxic Mess

The Amazon's Toxic Mess

Zoë Tryon highlights the plight of Ecuadorian natives after decades of oil drilling
9 October 2011 | Sunday Night Show

Zoë Tryon highlights the plight of Ecuadorian natives after decades of oil drilling in this powerful investigation by Mike Munro.     Read more...

New York Comptroller Urges Chevron to Save "Battered Reputation" In Ecuador Litigation

5 October 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – The Comptroller who runs New York's $146 billion state pension fund has gone public to urge Chevron to "spare the company's battered reputation" by settling an environmental lawsuit spanning two decades in the Ecuadorian rainforest.     Read more...

Chevron Rainforest Case Drags Mud into Local Court

30 September 2011 | The Recorder

The long-running legal battle between Ecuadoreans and Chevron waged in more than a dozen courts in this country and abroad has been full of ugly lawyer fights and allegations of dirty tricks. Now a piece of the multibillion dollar rainforest destruction suit is being fought in Bay Area courts. And it isn't pretty.      Read more...

What Chevron Owes the People of Lago Agrio

26 September 2011 | Huffington Post

Since taking office as New York State Comptroller four years ago, I have asked Chevron's board of directors to settle this marathon litigation and spare the company's battered reputation any further damage. The board has chosen to ignore the wishes of the many investors and observers who supported my call.     Read more...

Chevron Lobbying Efforts Revealed by Leaked Cables

22 September 2011 | Courthouse News Service

Chevron tried to shake off multibillion environmental claims in Ecuador by lobbying government officials, even as it blasted opponents for allegedly playing to the courts' corrupt and political side, according to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks.     Read more...

Wikileaks Cables Expose Chevron's Lobbying of Ecuador Government to Kill $18 Billion Environmental Case

Newly Released Cables Raise Questions About Chevron Ties to U.S. Embassy and Misrepresentations
21 September 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Chevron engaged in a clandestine lobbying campaign of Ecuador's government to improperly shut down the historic environmental case brought by thousands of indigenous persons, according to a series of cables written by U.S. government officials and recently disclosed by Wikileaks.     Read more...

US Court's Decision in Ecuador Case Could See Chevron Assets Seized: Analyst

21 September 2011 | Platts

New York, NY – A recent decision by a US appeals court in the years-long dispute between Chevron and indigenous groups in Ecuador's Amazon region opens the possibility that Chevron assets could be seized elsewhere if the company does not make a settlement, Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit said Tuesday.     Read more...

US Court Rules Against Chevron in Ecuador Oil Case

20 September 2011 | BBC News

A US court has overturned a block on Ecuadoreans collecting damages totalling $18.2 billion from Chevron over Amazon oil pollution.     Read more...

Court Ruling Backs Ecuadorian Effort to Hold Chevron Accountable For Amazon Pollution

Court Ruling Backs Ecuadorian Effort to Hold Chevron Accountable For Amazon Pollution

20 September 2011 | Democracy Now!

A U.S. appeals court has ruled oil giant Chevron cannot escape an $18 billion fine for massive pollution of the Amazon rain forest.     Read more...

Amazon Watch Statement on the September 19th 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Order Lifting the U.S. District Court's Injunction Barring Enforcement of Ecuadorian Court Verdict Against Chevron

20 September 2011 | Amazon Watch

Yesterday's order from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals brings the oil-ravaged indigenous and rural communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon one step closer to justice after nearly two decades of fighting to hold American oil giant Chevron accountable for the devastation it caused in their rainforest lands.     Read more...

Order Barring Ecuador from Collecting $18 Billion Vacated

19 September 2011 | Associated Press

New York – A federal appeals court vacated an order Monday by a New York judge that barred an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador against Chevron Inc. for contaminating the Amazon.     Read more...

Appeals Court Sides with Ecuadorians in Chevron Suit

19 September 2011 | San Francisco Chronicle

Ecuadorans suing Chevron Corp. over pollution in the Amazon rain forest are one step closer to collecting a $9.5 billion judgment against the San Ramon company.     Read more...

U.S. State Department Concludes Ecuador Provides Impartial Tribunals, Says Expert Report

Chevron Continues to Manipulate Data to Evade Environmental Liability
8 September 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – A new report based on U.S. government data and independent surveys demonstrates conclusively that Ecuador's court system ranks better than most of its neighbors in Latin America and provides impartial tribunals to litigants, clearly undermining Chevron's claims that an $18 billion judgment against it for environmental damage from the South American country cannot be enforced.     Read more...

Ecuadorian Plaintiffs Again Seek Judge's Recusal

7 September 2011 | Legal Newsline

New York – The Ecuadorian plaintiffs suing Chevron Corp. are yet again asking a federal judge to recuse himself from a case involving a multibillion-dollar judgment against the oil company in Ecuador.     Read more...

Arbitration Panel Slashed Chevron Damages Claim by 87%, Granting Oil Giant Only 13 Cents On the Dollar

Award Fails to Offset Chevron's $18 Billion Liability in Ecuador
2 September 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – An international arbitration tribunal this week slashed a Chevron damage claim against Ecuador in a series of commercial disputes by 87%, granting the oil giant a paltry 13 cents on the dollar and failing to offset the company's $18 billion liability in a separate environmental case.     Read more...

Chevron Seeking "Do Over" of Eight-Year Pollution Trial Before Favored Judge

Oil Giant Shelves RICO Case and Now Plans to Call Experts To Assert Massive Pollution In Ecuador Is Not Its Problem, Say Legal Papers
30 August 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Ecuadorian indigenous residents are accusing a New York federal judge of improperly allowing Chevron to re-litigate an eight-year pollution trial that it lost to help bail out the company from a potential $18 billion clean-up liability, according to legal papers filed in recent days in New York federal court.     Read more...

New Wrinkle to Chevron Drama in the Amazon

11 August 2011 | Courthouse News Service

A discovery order poses new complications for Chevron as it tries to distance itself from a convicted drug felon and to discredit an $18.2 billion judgment for massive oil contamination in the Amazon.     Read more...

Chevron Again Trying To Exclude Key Lawyer In Ecuador Case From U.S. Trial

Fearing Its Misconduct Will Be Exposed, Oil Giant Pushes Hard to Keep Donziger and Keker Out of Court
9 August 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Chevron is again trying to exclude American lawyer Steven Donziger and his powerhouse attorney John Keker from a controversial trial in U.S. federal court over the company's $18 billion liability in an environmental case in Ecuador, according to court papers and representatives of the plaintiffs.     Read more...

Corporate Polluters Close Rank Behind Chevron In Ecuador Case

Dow Chemical, Shell, and Dole File Legal Brief Designed To Help Chevron Evade Rainforest Clean-up Liability
13 July 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Some of the world's most notorious polluters are closing rank behind Chevron to help the oil giant evade its legal obligation to clean-up billions of gallons of toxic waste dumped into the Amazon region of Ecuador, according to legal briefs filed before a New York appeals court.     Read more...

Environmental Groups Line Up Against Chevron Over Company's Attempt to Block Ecuador Clean-up

EarthRights International Criticizes Chevron's "Gamesmanship" Before U.S. Federal Judge
11 July 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – In legal briefs, two prominent U.S. environmental law groups are criticizing Chevron's "unprecedented" attempt to use U.S. courts to try to block its legal obligation to pay clean-up costs in Ecuador for contaminating the Amazon rainforest.     Read more...

Nine U.S. Law Professors Say Federal Judge Acted Improperly In Trying to Block Environmental Judgment Against Chevron

Injunction Shows "Judicial Arrogance" and Violates the Constitution, Says Bert Neuborne of New York University
28 June 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Nine U.S. law professors, including a former member of the U.S. Congress, have joined numerous international law scholars in asking a U.S. appeals court to overturn the decision of a federal judge who claims he has worldwide authority to block a group of Ecuadorian citizens from enforcing their $18 billion judgment against Chevron.     Read more...

Ecuador Government Criticizes U.S. Judge for Comments about Country's Court System

In Legal Brief, Government Urges Appeals Court to Dissolve Injunction over $18 Billion Chevron Judgment
20 June 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Ecuador's government has taken the extraordinary step of asking a U.S. appeals court to rein in New York judge Lewis A. Kaplan for his "belittlement" of their country's court system and for mocking the Ecuadorian indigenous and farmer communities who recently won an $18 billion judgment against Chevron, according to legal papers filed recently in New York.     Read more...

Delegation from Ecuadorian Amazon Demands Justice from Chevron

Delegation from Ecuadorian Amazon Demands Justice from Chevron

14 June 2011

In 1993, Elias Piaguaje traveled to New York to file a landmark lawsuit against Chevron. Elias' nephew Humberto returned 18 years later, carrying with him a historic guilty verdict.     Read more...

International Law Scholars Say Attempt by U.S. Judge to Block $18 Billion Court Judgment Against Chevron "Unlawful" and "Futile"

Scholars Ask Appellate Court to Dissolve Order of Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
13 June 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – A group of 16 international law scholars have asked a federal appeals court in New York to overturn what they say is a U.S. trial court's "futile" and unlawful injunction that purports to prohibit foreign citizens from Ecuador from collecting an $18 billion judgment against Chevron in courts around the world.     Read more...

U.S. Federal Judge Insults Ecuadorian Indigenous Plaintiffs Who Won $18 Billion Judgment Against Chevron

Legal Papers Ask for Removal of Lewis A. Kaplan Due to Inappropriate Comments, Apparent Bias Against Historic Lawsuit
7 June 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – A U.S. federal judge in New York is questioning whether the Ecuadorian indigenous plaintiffs who for almost two decades have battled Chevron in one of the world's largest environmental litigations even exist, according to a legal brief asking an appellate panel to order the judge off a case involving the Ecuadorians because of his apparent bias against their lawsuit.     Read more...

The Man Who Humbled Chevron

Ecuadorian lawyer Pablo Fajardo succeeded against the petroleum giant with the largest compensation in history for environmental crimes
6 June 2011 | El País

This is the story of an ecological catastrophe thirty times worse than the Exxon Valdez oil spill, according to the plaintiffs. It is also that of a sentence, dictated by a judge in the town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, that signed for the most costly compensation demand in history in a judicial action for environmental crimes: 8.560 billion dollars. In between, decades of suffering and death, in a place where surviving the daily misery was already difficult enough.     Read more...

Chevron Issues New Discovery Requests in Six Federal Courts to Deplete Funds of Ecuadorian Plaintiffs, Lawyers Say

Even Interns Working on Historic Lawsuit Receive Oil Giant's Subpoenas
4 June 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Chevron is renewing its strategy to deplete the modest financial resources of the Ecuadorian indigenous plaintiffs who won an $18 billion judgment against the company by issuing discovery requests in six federal courts seeking thousands of documents.     Read more...

Chevron CEO Misled Shareholders at Annual Meeting with Corporate Video

Narrator Repeated False Statements in Cynical Bid to Blunt SEC Probe & Investor Outrage
1 June 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – A corporate video shown by Chevron CEO John Watson at last week's annual meeting was an attempt to mislead shareholders about the company's $18 billion Ecuador liability in the wake of a potential SEC probe, representatives of Ecuadorian indigenous and farmer communities said Tuesday.     Read more...

Investors Ask SEC to Probe Chevron Over $18 Billion Ecuador Liability

Annual Meeting Dominated by Issues Relating to Ecuador Environmental Catastrophe
26 May 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

San Ramon, CA – With an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador hanging around its neck, Chevron's management now faces the unpleasant prospect of an SEC probe and a growing revolt among large shareholders upset with the company's failure to contain the risk related to the historic environmental lawsuit.     Read more...

Chevron Feels the Heat

Annual Shareholder Meeting Brings Huge Protests For Oil Giant's Abuses Around the World
26 May 2011 | AlterNet

San Ramon, CA – "We are the human face of Chevron's operations, armed with the memories of our dead relatives, our neighbors, our sick children," said one woman who traveled from Ecuador.     Read more...

Third Circuit Issues Not-So-Veiled Rebuke to Judge Kaplan in Lago Agrio Litigation Against Chevron

25 May 2011 | American Lawyer

Judge Thomas Ambro made a point of offering some stinging words about American judges that don't respect the judicial systems of other countries. "The Chevron applicants are asking that American courts make a finding that the attorneys in a civil case in Ecuador can control the Ecuadorian criminal justice system."     Read more...

Judicial Imperialism

25 May 2011 | El Diario

A judge with a superiority complex is making a devastating environmental situation worse by siding with the U.S. company that wreaked the havoc.      Read more...

Chevron Chiefs Face Shareholders after Huge $18bn Ecuador Fine

California-based oil company criticised by investors for "take no prisoner" attitude to Ecuador judgment
25 May 2011 | Guardian UK

Chevron bosses are facing shareholders for the first time since the company was fined a total of $18bn over contamination from oil extraction in the Amazon. California's largest oil company is coming under increasing pressure from institutional investors and long-term shareholders.     Read more...

$18 Billion Ecuadorian Lawsuit Dominates Chevron Shareholder Meeting

Chevron confronted with mismanaged multibillion-dollar liability; Major institutional shareholders urge settlement
25 May 2011 | Amazon Watch

San Ramon, CA – At the company's Annual General Meeting of shareholders today, Chevron management and Board of Directors came under fire for their handling of the massive $18 billion environmental disaster in the Ecuadorian Amazon.     Read more...

Investors Call on SEC to Probe Chevron over Ecuador Statements

Shareholders Intensify Pressure on Oil Major Ahead of Annual Meeting
24 May 2011 | Responsible Investor

Trillium Asset Management, the Boston-based sustainable and responsible investment specialist, has written to the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the regulator to investigate Chevron Corp.'s disclosures about the recent $18bn Ecuador judgment.     Read more...

Activists' True Cost Report Takes on Chevron

24 May 2011 | San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco, CA – With Chevron Corp. set to hold its annual shareholder meeting this morning, a global network of the company's critics on Tuesday released a report accusing the oil giant of environmental crimes around the world.     Read more...

Ecuador Indigenous Leaders Issue Plea for Americans to Help In Battle Against Chevron's Toxic Dumping

In Open Letter, Ecuadorians Ask Americans To Demand That Chevron Clean Contamination Dumped in Rainforest
23 May 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – The indigenous and farmer communities of Ecuador have released an open letter to the American people calling on them to help in the historic battle to force Chevron to clean up the toxic mess the oil giant left their country's Amazon rainforest, considered by many to be the worst oil-related disaster on earth.     Read more...

Carmen Zambrano: Mother & Community Leader vs. Chevron

Carmen Zambrano: Mother & Community Leader vs. Chevron

19 May 2011

Carmen is visiting the US for the first time, bringing with her stories of a once-beautiful and fertile region, devastated by Chevron's operations, and confronting the oil giant directly at the company's shareholders meeting.      Read more...

Servio Curipoma Arrives in New York to Tell His Story

Servio Curipoma Arrives in New York to Tell His Story

18 May 2011

Servio lost both his parents and a sister to cancer that doctors have attributed to drinking water contaminated by toxic crude waste. Since that time, Curipoma has become an active voice for his community.     Read more...

Chevron's Disclosures to Investors on Risks Associated with Ecuador are Questioned

As shareowners file resolutions addressing environmental and human rights risks, a new report finds discrepancies between Chevron's court statements and disclosures in its annual report
17 May 2011 | SocialFunds.com

Companies know they put their reputation on the line when they do something wrong, but often forget they can take a worse reputational hit from trying to spin it.     Read more...

Reputational Stumbles of the Week: Chevron, the Coal Industry, and Facebook

16 May 2011 | BNET

Companies know they put their reputation on the line when they do something wrong, but often forget they can take a worse reputational hit from trying to spin it.     Read more...

Appeal of Injunction Against Ecuador Verdict Expedited

13 May 2011 | Legal Newsline

New York, NY – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted a group of Ecuadorians, who previously won an $18 billion judgment against Chevron Corp., an expedited appeal of a preliminary injunction in an order filed this week.     Read more...

Ecuadoreans Win Round in Drawn-out Chevron Battle

12 May 2011 | Reuters

New York, NY – A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, in a terse ruling, relaxed rules in the order to allow plaintiffs' lawyers to meet with their clients and raise funds to fight Chevron in court.     Read more...

Chevron in Ecuador: A Defining Moment

Chevron in Ecuador: A Defining Moment

12 May 2011

Chevron has been found guilty of massive contamination of the Amazon and fined $18 billion, but the company has vowed to fight the verdict "until Hell freezes over."     Read more...

Report Finds Chevron Downplaying Shareholder Risk and Liability from $18 Billion Ecuador Judgment

11 May 2011 | Amazon Watch, RAN

San Francisco, CA – Two weeks before Chevron's Annual General Shareholders meeting, a report released today finds that Chevron's multi-billion liability in Ecuador poses serious financial and operational risk to the company and its shareholders.      Read more...

Chevron Ecuador Risk Analysis Report

An Analysis of the Financial and Operational Risks to Chevron Corporation from Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco
May 2011 | An independent report commissioned by Amazon Watch & Rainforest Action Network

Drawing on the unusually rich and revealing publicly available legal filings in this case, this report examines the potential damage and disruption to Chevron's operations from enforcement of the $18 billion Ecuador court judgment that was delivered on February 14, 2011. This report also assesses the risk that Chevron's aggressive counter-litigation and public relations campaign against the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' will backfire and prove to be a long-term barrier to the company's obtaining the legal right and social license to explore and operate in new regions.     Read more...

Appeals Court in NYC Puts Chevron on Defensive

10 May 2011 | Associated Press

New York, NY – A lawyer for energy company Chevron found himself on the defensive Tuesday as he argued that it was urgent that the courts protect the company from an $18 billion judgment against it in Ecuador over damage done to the Ecuadorean rain forest decades ago.     Read more...

Chevron Fights Justice in Ecuador on Two Fronts, but Needs to Win Everywhere

4 May 2011 | EarthRights International

Since February, Chevron has been facing what is probably the largest environmental judgment in history. They've gone on the offensive against this judgment on two fronts. But they need to win not just these cases, but every other one that the plaintiffs might file.     Read more...

Duel in the Amazon

Excursions in Ecuador's jungles show two sides in Chevron's long legal battle over the environment.
30 April 2011 | Los Angeles Times

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – Donald Moncayo walks to the edge of a flat grassy field that once held two large pits that brimmed with a stew of water and crude from an oil-drilling operation. He lifts a heavy auger above his head and prepares to plunge it into the ground. "They always show you the shirt, the coat and the tie," he said of the area, called Sacha 53, which is now pastureland and spindly trees. "They never show you the tumor underneath the shirt."     Read more...

An Open Letter to the People of the United States from the Ecuadorian Plaintiffs

30 April 2011 | Asamblea de Afectados por Texaco

An open letter written to the people of the United States from the 30,000 Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco trial.     Read more...

An Open Letter to the People of the United States from the Ecuadorian Plaintiffs

An Open Letter to the People of the United States from the Ecuadorian Plaintiffs

30 April 2011

To commemorate a delegation of Ecuadorians visiting the U.S. to demand justice from Chevron, the communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon issued an Open Letter to the People of the United States.     Read more...

Judge in Chevron Trial Asked to Recuse Himself

27 April 2011 | Courthouse News Service

New York, NY – A group of indigenous Ecuadorean farmers who won an $18 billion environmental lawsuit against Chevron seek to oust the American judge positioned to block the award in an upcoming federal trial.      Read more...

To Avoid a Jury Trial, Chevron Now Wants to Remove Donziger and Lawyer John Keker from RICO Case

Oil Giant Clearly Scared of Jury Trial That Could Create Additional Liability, Plaintiffs Say
21 April 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – To avoid a jury trial, Chevron has filed papers seeking to remove Steven Donziger and John Keker out of the first phase of a racketeering case in New York that the oil giant filed in February to try to escape paying an $18 billion judgment.     Read more...

Miami Herald Catches Chevron in Lie about Ecuador Well Site

Reporter finds oil sludge in "remediated" pit that's part of Chevron's fraud, plaintiffs say
19 April 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Washington, DC – In a story published in today's newspaper, journalist Jim Wyss said he witnessed "thick oil slicks" only a few feet into the ground of a dirt-covered storage pit Chevron told him the day before had been remediated of all oil.     Read more...

Key Documents & Court Filings from Aguinda Legal Team

April - July 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

On February 14th, a court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador ruled in favor of the residents of the Amazonian rainforest who have spent the last 18 years trying to force Chevron executives to clean up their deadly mess. Here are some essential documents for understanding this decision and the current status of the case.     Read more...

Chevron Selling Assets to Escape Enforcement of $9.5 Billion Judgment in Ecuador, Plaintiffs Charge

Court Filing Requests that U.S. Judge Increase $21.8 Million Bond
5 April 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Chevron is divesting itself of overseas assets that could be used to enforce the $9.5 billion legal judgment against the oil giant for massive contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest, lawyers for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs stated in a legal brief submitted to the Southern District of New York last week.     Read more...

Chevron Could Take Big Hit From Potential Payout in Ecuador

31 March 2011 | The Street

New York, NY – Assuming a scenario in which Chevron is ordered to pay the maximum penalty of $9.5 billion, the reduction in cash would decrease its equity value by approximately 5%.     Read more...

Chevron's Internal Audits Demonstrating Extensive Contamination

29 March 2011

Chevron's own internal audits conducted in the early 1990s showed extensive contamination of the rainforest. View them here.     Read more...

Chevron Payments to Witness Revealed

In a Document Now Under Seal, Plaintiffs Say Payments Were Excessive and Suspect
8 March 2011 | The Daily Journal

San Francisco, CA – New court documents released briefly last week revealed that Chevron Corp. – in part through one of its law firms, Jones Day – paid at least $169,000 to a man who secretly videotaped one of the original judges in a massive environmental case against the oil company in Ecuador.      Read more...

U.S. Judge's Decision a "Slap in the Face" to Ecuadorians Fighting to Hold Chevron Accountable For Eco-Disaster in Amazon Rainforest

7 March 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – Statement by Karen Hinton, spokesperson for the Ecuadorians who recently won a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron for oil contamination, about today's Southern District Court of New York decision on the preliminary injunction.     Read more...

Court Affidavit Exposes 18 Years of Chevron's Unethical Conduct in $9.5 Billion Ecuador Lawsuit

Oil Giant Attempted to "Buy or Bully" Its Way Out of Environmental Liability for Creating "Amazon Chernobyl"
7 March 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

New York, NY – A new 42-page sworn affidavit, backed by hundreds of pages of exhibits, has outlined in stunning detail Chevron's 18-year effort to undermine the Ecuador court that recently awarded a $9.5 billion judgment against the company for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest of the South American nation and creating what locals call the "Amazon Chernobyl".     Read more...

Press Kit on the Lago Agrio Ruling and Chevron's Retaliatory Attacks

March 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

On February 14th, a court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador ruled in favor of the residents of the Amazonian rainforest who have spent the last 18 years trying to force Chevron executives to clean up their deadly mess. Here are some essential documents for understanding this decision and the current status of the case.     Read more...

Damning Video of Former Chevron Employee Sheds Light on Case for Justice in Ecuador

Video Reveals the Blatant Recklessness that Led to Widespread Contamination and Illness in the Region
2 March 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Washingon, DC – In a video released today, a former oil operations assistant for Texaco (now Chevron) lays bare the stunning negligence and deliberate dumping of 18.5 billion gallons of highly toxic waste into Ecuadorian ecosystems by Chevron in its pursuit of oil in the Amazon rainforest.     Read more...

Texaco's Sham Remediation of Contamination at Well Sites

March 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

In 1995, Chevron entered into a remediation agreement with the Government of Ecuador. This agreement is in the center of Chevron's defense against the plaintiffs' charge that the oil giant intentionally contaminated the Ecuadorian rainforest. Without it, Chevron has no defense.     Read more...

Indigenous Ecuadoran Woman Humbles US Oil Giant

22 February 2011 | AFP

Rumipamba, Ecuador – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.     Read more...

Federal Court Hears Arguments to Compel Chevron "Dirty Tricks" Operative Diego Borja to Testify Immediately on Charges He Assisted Oil Giant In Corrupting Environmental Lawsuit

16 February 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

San Francisco, CA – Today the Northern District Court of California will hear a motion by Ecuadorian plaintiffs to compel Chevron operative Diego Borja and his wife, Sara Portilla, to be deposed on charges Chevron, with their assistance, tried to corrupt a massive oil contaminatin lawsuit in Ecuador.     Read more...

Chevron Found Guilty in Landmark Trial; Plaintiffs Respond

Oil Giant Ordered to Pay Record $9 Billion to Ecuadorian Rainforest Communities
15 February 2011 | Amazon Watch

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.      Read more...

Chevron and Ecuador: Indians to Fight for Higher Damages

15 February 2011 | BBC News

Quito, Ecuador – Ecuadorean judges have made a landmark multi-billion-dollar ruling against oil giant Chevron. But members of Ecuador's Amazonian communities have now announced they are not satisfied with the damages and will appeal.     Read more...

Statement on Ecuador Court Ruling Against Chevron

Evidence Prevails Over Oil Giant's Intimidation Tactics
14 February 2011 | Amazon Watch, RAN

San Francisco, CA – 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.     Read more...

Statement by Ecuadorian Plaintiffs on Judgment Against Chevron

14 February 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – Pablo Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian attorneys representing the indigenous tribes suing Chevron for oil contamination, released this statement today about the judgment against Chevron.     Read more...

Ecuadorean Judge Orders Chevron to Pay $9 Billion

14 February 2011 | The New York Times

A judge in a tiny courtroom in the Ecuadorean Amazon ruled Monday that the oil giant Chevron was responsible for polluting remote tracts of Ecuadorean jungle and ordered the company to pay more than $9 billion in damages, one of the largest environmental awards ever.     Read more...

Ecuadoran Court Slaps Chevron With $8 Billion Fine

14 February 2011 | San Francisco Chronicle

An Ecuadoran judge today fined Chevron Corp. $8 billion in a bitter, 18-year-old lawsuit over oil-field contamination in the Amazon rain forest.     Read more...

Victims of Chevron's Contamination React to Being Sued by Company

Victims of Chevron's Contamination React to Being Sued by Company

7 February 2011

Victims of Chevron's contamination from the region around oil boom-town Coca learn the news that the oil giant is suing them, accusing them of racketeering and extortion for their efforts to hold the company accountable for its abuses.      Read more...

Chevron Finds Its Toxic Dumping Didn't Harm a Soul in Ecuador

In Final Argument, Oil Giant's Tally for Clean-up is "Zero" Despite Dumping Billions of Gallons of Waste Into Amazon
7 February 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – Chevron has found that dumping of billions of gallons of toxic waste into Ecuador's Amazon didn't harm a single person or the environment, according to the company's final argument submitted to the Ecuador court hearing the historic environmental case.     Read more...

Statement of Stratus Consulting Regarding Chevron Countersuit

3 February 2011 | Stratus Consulting

Chevron's claims against Stratus Consulting are false. Released on the eve of an impending judgment in Ecuador, Chevron's assertion of RICO claims against Stratus Consulting is a gross misuse of the federal courts. Stratus Consulting never engaged in the misconduct alleged by Chevron, and Chevron knows as much.     Read more...

Chevron Threatened Ecuador Judge With Prison Time If He Failed to Grant Motions, Court Papers Say

On Eve of Judgment, Chevron Resorting to Intimidation Tactics
3 February 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – Chevron's lawyers in Ecuador have threatened the trial judge overseeing the historic environmental trial where the company faces a potential judgment in the billions of dollars, according to court papers made available by the plaintiffs.     Read more...

Amazon Watch's Response to Chevron's Outrageous Accusations

3 February 2011 | Amazon Watch

We are appalled to be named in Chevron's legal assault, but will not be intimated by this corporate bullying. We stand in solidarity with the victims of Chevron's ongoing and apparently escalating abuse, and will stand with them until they get the justice they have sought for too long.     Read more...

The Kitchen Sink Defense

Chevron Files Retaliatory Lawsuit Against Indigenous Ecuadorians Seeking Amazon Cleanup
2 February 2011 | EarthRights International

Chevron's efforts to discredit the case reached a new level this week, as Chevron sued the Ecuadorian plaintiffs themselves in federal court in New York, accusing them of fraud, interfering with contracts, trespass, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy.      Read more...

Scientific Evidence Will Triumph Over Chevron's Intimidation Tactics in Ecuador, Say Plaintiffs

2 February 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – With the scientific evidence against Chevron in the historic Ecuador environmental trial fully before the court, the oil giant is now resorting to threats and intimidation to try to derail a final judgment that could cost the company's shareholders tens of billions of dollars, say representatives of the plaintiffs.     Read more...

Chevron's RICO Lawsuit in Pollution Case Part of Wider Legal Strategy

2 February 2011 | The New York Times

Chevron's racketeering suit filed yesterday against the legal team seeking damages for pollution in Ecuador is likely part of a wider strategy aimed at helping the oil giant reach a more favorable settlement, according to legal experts.     Read more...

Chevron, Trying to Fight Ecuador Lawsuit, Now Claiming Plaintiffs Don't Really Exist

Event In Amazon Jungle Puts Lie to Oil Giant's Latest Desperate Tactic
28 January 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – Several indigenous plaintiffs in the historic environmental lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador came together this week at one of the oil giant's polluted well sites in the Amazon rainforest to once again "prove" they are real in light of Chevron's latest legal motion claiming they don't really exist.     Read more...

Amazon Plaintiffs to Chevron: We're Real!

28 January 2011 | Mother Jones

The long legal case against Chevron over environmental damage wrought by drilling operations in the Amazon may finally be drawing to a close, as the parties in the case this month began filing their final arguments. But Chevron has made several attempts to get the case thrown out entirely – including making claims that the plaintiffs in the case don't actually exist.     Read more...

Summary of Final Argument (Part I)

Summary of the Alegato – Pt. I of Final Argument in Lawsuit
24 January 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lawyers for the Amazonian communities suing Chevron have submitted the first part of their final written argument to the Ecuador court, outlining the evidence demonstrating Chevron's liability in the $113 billion environmental damages lawsuit, and the fraud behind the company's primary defense of remediation.

     Read more...

Plaintiff's Final Arguments In Ecuador Court Show "Overwhelming" Proof of Chevron Contamination

Oil Giant's Liability for Amazon Disaster On Full Display In Public Document
24 January 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – Lawyers for the Amazonian communities suing Chevron have submitted the first part of their final written argument to the Ecuador court, outlining the evidence demonstrating Chevron's liability in the $113 billion environmental damages lawsuit and the fraud behind the company's primary defense of remediation.     Read more...

Arrests Unlikely To Curb Chevron Shareholder Meeting Protests

24 January 2011 | Financial Times

At Chevron's last shareholder meeting, five people were arrested. And certainly the arrests of those who the company says were troublemakers at the meeting must have been a welcome turn of events for Chevron. Yet it really has not worked out as Chevron might have hoped. There will likely be continued protests at its upcoming shareholder meeting.     Read more...

Clean Up Ecuador Campaign Briefing Paper

Understanding Recent Developments in the Landmark Chevron-Ecuador Case
Winter 2011 | Amazon Watch

After more than 17 years of litigation, the monumental class action against oil giant Chevron (formerly Texaco) for widespread environmental devastation in the Ecuadorian Amazon is nearing an end. This briefing paper provides a brief background on this historic legal battle, followed by an outline of some of Chevron's strategies to evade accountability for one of the world's worst ecological disasters.     Read more...

Chevron Trying to Block Testimony of Diego Borja About Falsifying Evidence In Ecuador Trial, Plaintiffs Charge

Chevron Operative Accused of Defying Court Order
18 January 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

San Francisco, CA – Chevron is attempting to block or delay the sworn deposition testimony of the company's Ecuadorian "dirty tricks" operative Diego Borja, the spokesperson for the Ecuadorians suing Chevron for oil contamination in the Amazonian rainforest, charged today.      Read more...

Chevron Operatives Leave California After Being Called to Testify About Falsifying Evidence in Ecuador Environmental Trial

Diego Borja, Sarah Portilla, & Wayne Hansen Fighting Subpoenas Issued by U.S. Courts
6 January 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition

San Francisco, CA – Chevron's self-described "clandestine" operations agent Diego Borja, his wife Sarah Portilla, and collaborator Wayne Hansen have left California after two U.S. Federal Courts authorized subpoenas to be served upon them related to charges that they tried to corrupt the environmental trial in Ecuador.     Read more...