Chevron in Ecuador

The archive of the Clean Up Ecuador campaign website


News & Multimedia from 2014

Chevron's 12-Step Program to Obtain Impunity for Its Crimes and Abuses in Ecuador

18 December 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Why has Chevron still not paid up for its destruction of Ecuador's ecosytem after 22 years of litigation? And why has Chevron still not paid a dollar directly to those affected by its pollution in Ecuador when BP voluntarily put up $20 billion to compensate victims within weeks of its much less impactful Gulf oil spill in the United States?     Read more...

Canada's Supreme Court Poised to Force Chevron to Stand Trial Over $9.5 Billion Judgment

Chevron Lawyer Clark Hunter Poses Dare to Justices: "Fairness" Should Have Nothing to Do with It
16 December 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Chevron's brazen plan to inflict a "lifetime of litigation" on the indigenous communities it poisoned in Ecuador's Amazon continues to grind its way through courts around the world.     Read more...

Chevron Maneuvering to Block Ecuadorian Villagers from Enforcing $9.5 Billion Judgment in Canadian Courts

10 December 2014 | Hinton Communications

Ottawa, Canada – Trying to make good on its promise of a "lifetime of litigation" to avoid paying for a clean-up of Ecuador's rainforest, Chevron will ask the Supreme Court of Canada this week to create a new jurisdictional hurdle that likely would close off the country's courts to indigenous communities seeking to enforce their $9.5 billion environmental judgment against the company.     Read more...

Chevron Trying to Suppress Expert Report that Undermines Company's Star Witness in Ecuador Pollution Trial

4 December 2014 | Hinton Communications

New York, NY – As its much-vaunted racketeering verdict over a $9.5 billion Ecuador liability faces likely reversal, Chevron is now trying to suppress a new expert report that appears to provide yet more evidence that the oil giant's star witness was corrupt and lied to the U.S. judge who presided over the racketeering case.     Read more...

Public Eye Lifetime Award and The Yes Men Mark Farewell from Davos

19 November 2014 | Berne Declaration

After 15 years of the Public Eye, the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace Switzerland are taking stock and, in their farewell to Davos and the WEF, will present a final award to one company for its lifetime achievements in corporate irresponsibility.     Read more...

Chevron's Sham Remediation in Ecuador: Toxic Oil Pits Continue to Contaminate

14 November 2014 | Huffington Post

The contamination of indigenous' ancestral homelands and the disease and death left behind is unlike anything you have ever seen. And, even though Ecuador's Supreme Court has upheld the $9.5 billion judgment against the oil giant, Chevron refuses to pay, arguing the agreement released it from any liability.     Read more...

Law Scholar Criticizes U.S. Judge Kaplan for Using "Judicial Slander" to Undermine Ecuador Pollution Case

10 November 2014 | Hinton Communications

New York, NY – A prominent U.S. law scholar is criticizing a federal judge and Chevron for using tainted witness testimony and "international judicial slander" to illegally undermine efforts by Ecuadorian rainforest villagers to collect a $9.5 billion environmental judgment needed to clean up the extensive contamination of their ancestral lands.     Read more...

Ecuadorian Villagers Urge U.S. State Department Official to Demand Chevron Pay $9.5 Billion Pollution Judgment

High-level Diplomat Roberta Jacobson Told Not to Lobby for Chevron During Visit to Quito to Meet Government Officials
4 November 2014 | Hinton Communications

Quito, Ecuador – Rainforest indigenous groups are urging a top-level official from the U.S. State Department to demand Chevron abide by the rule of law and pay its $9.5 billion Ecuador pollution liability when she makes a surprise visit to the Andean nation's capital this week.     Read more...

Donziger Is a Hero, Not a Charlatan

Invariably, when someone stands up to a bully, the bully claims to be the victim
3 November 2014 | Wall Street Journal

As one of Steven Donziger's trial counsel, I thought I would point out the obvious: Bret Stephens's book review of Law of the Jungle tells us little about Paul M. Barrett's book, and a lot about how sensationalized “facts” are used by Chevron, Mr. Barrett and the Journal to distract from the fundamental questions raised by 20 years of litigation.     Read more...

Meet the Amazon Tribespeople Who Beat Chevron in Court – but Are Still Fighting for Clean Water

With the judgment in their favor tied up in a New York courtroom, indigenous residents of Ecuador's oil-polluted rainforest are going back to basics
30 October 2014 | TakePart

"It fills me with rage to see what the oil companies have done to my people," says ClearWater coordinator Nemonte Nenquimo. "We are not supposed to be controlled by an oil company. Waorani are meant to lively freely."     Read more...

Donny Rico Gives Credit Where Credit Is Due: Judge Kaplan

30 October 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Chevron's retaliatory RICO case against the Ecuadorians and their lawyers would not have come about were it not for the generous suggestion of U.S. Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan. Chevron spent millions upon millions filing cases against the Ecuadorians everywhere other than Ecuador once the company saw the verdict was about to come down, but when they met Kaplan, they hit pay dirt.     Read more...

U.S. Judge Kaplan Held Investments In Chevron When He Ruled for Company in Ecuador Pollution Dispute

Donziger Calls On Judge to Review Investments and Make Full Disclosure of All Ties to Oil Company
29 October 2014 | Amazon Watch

New York, NY – The U.S. federal judge who ruled in favor of Chevron in the company's campaign to block collection of its $9.5 billion environmental liability in Ecuador held investments in the oil company at the time of his decision, documents reveal.     Read more...

Rainforest Communities Seek Criminal Investigation of Chevron CEO Watson Before International Court

23 October 2014 | Amazon Watch

Quito, Ecuador – Rainforest communities in Ecuador today requested that an international court open a criminal investigation of Chevron CEO John Watson and other high-level officers of the company over their role in violating international humanitarian law by obstructing a court-mandated clean-up of toxic contamination in the Amazon, putting thousands of lives at risk.     Read more...

Hall of SHAME? We Have a Winner!

22 October 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

There are many corporations worthy of being condemned for their actions that harm people and the planet, but none more deserving than Chevron. This company has reveled in its role as corporate criminal on the run from a $9.5 billion verdict against it in Ecuador for the deliberate dumping of billions of gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest. Chevron brazenly flaunts the fact that it will not be held to account by any court anywhere and will never stop fighting the very people who continue to suffer from its willful contamination.     Read more...

Chevron Will Lose Ecuador Pollution Case on Both Law and Facts

22 October 2014 | Huffington Post

Prediction: Chevron will lose the historic Ecuador pollution case on both the law and the facts, despite what you may have read in articles by U.S. legal reporters about the 20-year plus lawsuit.     Read more...

A Hard Look at NOW's Support for Chevron in Ecuador Case Raises Ethical Concerns

NOW’s Elaine Wood Questioned About Failure to Tell Appellate Court About Her Business Ties to Chevron
22 October 2014 | The Chevron Pit

The relationship between the National Organization for Women ("NOW") and Chevron in the Ecuador pollution case is getting even more interesting. (For background, see this press release where Ecuadorian women criticized NOW and this blog for context.)     Read more...

Chevron Paying Big Bucks to NOW and Others for "Friend of the Court" Briefs in Ecuador Case

U.S. Women's Advocates Cash Chevron Checks and Then Abandon Indigenous Women in Ecuador. Is It Worth It?
20 October 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Increasingly isolated in its Ecuador pollution case, Chevron is paying for "friend of the court" briefs by supposedly disinterested parties such as the National Organization for Women ("NOW") that are designed to back the company's faltering defense to its $9.5 billion environmental liability.     Read more...

Women Criticize NOW for Taking Money from Chevron in Ecuador Pollution Case

Call for Full Disclosure by NOW's Legal Group of All Chevron "Donations"
17 October 2014 | Hinton Communications

New York, NY – The legal arm of the National Organization for Woman is under attack from rainforest indigenous villagers and their allies for accepting a large donation from Chevron and then filing a legal brief in favor of the oil company in its campaign to evade an Ecuador court judgment ordering it to clean up extensive oil contamination in the Amazon.     Read more...

CBA Drops Plans to Intervene for Chevron at Supreme Court

16 October 2014 | The Globe and Mail

The Canadian Bar Association has done an 11th-hour reversal and dropped plans to intervene at the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of Chevron Corp. in a high-profile battle involving Ecuadorean aboriginal people.     Read more...

Did Chevron Just Fund Its Legal Opponents in Ecuador?

7 October 2014 | CSR Strategy Group

Did Chevron just hand its legal opponents in Ecuador $106 million? That appears to be the case according to a press release put out this week by the communities that have sued Chevron for oil pollution in the Ecuadoran rainforest.     Read more...

Chevron Lawyer Randy Mastro Resorts to Dirty Tricks in Ecuador Pollution Case

7 October 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Chevron lawyer Randy Mastro again appears to be engaging in dirty tricks in a last-ditch effort to rescue the oil company from its worsening legal troubles related to its $9.5 billion liability in Ecuador.     Read more...

Members Leave CBA over Chevron Case

6 October 2014 | Law Times

Some members of the Canadian Bar Association are considering giving up their memberships after the organization decided to intervene in support of Chevron Corp.'s position in the oil company's upcoming legal battle against the indigenous people of Ecuador at the Supreme Court of Canada.     Read more...

Chevron Faces Risk of "Spectacular Implosion" In Ecuador Pollution Case

5 October 2014 | The Chevron Pit

One of Chevron's many dark secrets – one company management desperately tries to hide from shareholders – is that its RICO defense in the Ecuador pollution case faces the risk of a "spectacular implosion" in the coming months.     Read more...

Indigenous Villagers Plan to Seize Chevron's $106 Million Arbitral Award In Ecuador

30 September 2014 | Hinton Communications

Quito, Ecuador – In what could be a huge boost to their campaign to force Chevron to comply with a $9.5 billion environmental judgment in Ecuador, rainforest villagers plan to enforce a court order directing them to take possession of a $106 million arbitral award won recently by the oil giant from Ecuador's government.     Read more...

Ecuadorians Plan to Seize $106 Million in Chevron Assets

30 September 2014 | Courthouse News Service

Amazon rainforest residents plan to seize the $106 million in Chevron's assets in Ecuador, their lawyers said Tuesday, turning a corner in the decades-old pollution fight.     Read more...

Business Journalists Rush to Rescue Chevron from Its Ecuador Disaster

30 September 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Chevron got a little help from its friends in the corporate media last week. It is clear that business journalists will come out of the woodwork to defend the company from attacks on their own kind, even if the truth about Chevron’s human rights violations is sacrificed in the process.     Read more...

How Reporter Paul Barrett Got It Wrong on Chevron's Calamity in Ecuador

28 September 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Chevron's $9.5 billion environmental liability in Ecuador, affirmed by eight separate appellate judges, has been haunting company CEO John Watson and his shareholders for years. In a new book on the litigation – one replete with factual errors and lacking even a single footnote – Businessweek reporter Paul Barrett largely adopts the myopically narrow perspective of the U.S. business community.      Read more...

NYT Columnist Joe Nocera Hides Major Conflict of Interest Over Chevron's Ecuador Case

24 September 2014 | The Chevron Pit

We have long known business writer Joe Nocera to be the resident lightweight of the NYT op-ed page. It was no surprise, then, when Nocera decided to help his Businessweek buddy Paul Barrett promote his one-sided new book on Chevron’s ecological calamity in Ecuador.     Read more...

Chevron Faces Increasing Challenges from Ecuador Judgment

24 September 2014 | Inside Counsel

If the goal of the company was to defeat its liability in Ecuador, it thus far has failed. Business and legal problems related to the Ecuador judgment, even with a recent ruling by a U.S. judge in favor of the company, show little sign of abating and continue to multiply across jurisdictions as described in detail below.     Read more...

Fortune's Roger Parloff Now Helping Chevron Smear Those Who Held It Accountable

19 September 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Fortune legal reporter Roger Parloff seems upset over Chevron's diminishing prospects of evading its $9.5 billion environmental liability in Ecuador.     Read more...

Random House and BusinessWeek's Paul Barrett Receive Defamation Notice over Chevron Pollution Case

18 September 2014 | Donziger and Associates

New York, NY – Random House and BusinessWeek reporter Paul M. Barrett face a potential defamation claim over a pro-Chevron book about an environmental litigation in Ecuador that is riddled with errors, fictional scenes and defamatory assertions.     Read more...

How Chevron's Scientists Misled Courts and Public About Death and Disease in Ecuador

11 September 2014 | Huffington Post

Chevron's goal has been to create doubt about the contamination's impact, arguing no proof exists that its oil and its operations harmed the environment or an Ecuadorian villager ever, even though Chevron's predecessor Texaco explored for oil exclusively in the concession area and was the only operator of all of the well sites from 1964 to 1990.     Read more...

Chevron Racism Toward Ecuador Highlighted by Court Decision in BP Case

10 September 2014 | The Chevron Pit

We would submit there is no way on God’s Earth that CEO Watson and the members of the Chevron Board of Director would dare to treat American victims of the company’s pollution as viciously as they continue to treat their victims in Ecuador.      Read more...

Rolling Stone Nails Chevron for Corrupt Acts in Ecuador Litigation

5 September 2014 | The Chevron Pit

None other than Rolling Stone (with its 4 million Twitter followers) has now weighed in on Chevron's environmental catastrophe and cover-up in Ecuador. The picture is not pretty for company management and shareholders.     Read more...

Sludge Match: Inside Chevron's $9 Billion Legal Battle with Ecuadorian Villagers

For more than two decades, energy giant Chevron and Ecuadorian activists, led by American lawyer Steven Donziger, have been embroiled in a contentious lawsuit about who is responsible for contaminating a vast swath of the Amazon
28 August 2014 | Rolling Stone

"What gets lost in the twists and turns of this lawsuit is the only thing that matters," says Mitch Anderson of ClearWater, a NGO that works to provide clean water to the affected communities. "The people of the Amazon continue to grow crops out of contaminated soil and bathe in contaminated rivers."     Read more...

Conflict of Interest: Businessweek's Paul Barrett Now an Advocate for Chevron in Ecuador Dispute

31 July 2014 | The Chevron Pit

With his track record of bias in favor of Chevron already part of the historical record, Businessweek’s Paul Barrett appears to have become a full-blown public advocate for the oil giant in its legal dispute with Ecuadorian villagers over the massive contamination of their ancestral lands.      Read more...

False Testimony Forced Chevron to "Prep" Its Million-Dollar Witness for 50 Days in Ecuador Case

24 July 2014 | Huffington Post

Chevron lawyers prepped their million-dollar star witness for 50 days about a bribe alleged in the oil giant's retaliatory RICO lawsuit against a group of Ecuadorian indigenous peoples and their U.S. lawyer. It took Chevron that long to try and get Alberto Guerra's story straight.     Read more...

Chevron's Ill-Fated RICO Suit Facing Doom and Gloom

17 July 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Legal briefs filed this month before a New York federal appeals court appear to dismantle the very foundation of the shameful Chevron-financed "racketeering" show trial that went down in late 2013 in the courtroom of controversial federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan.      Read more...

EarthRights International and Amazon Watch File Amicus Briefs in Chevron Appeal

16 July 2014 | EarthRights International

The latest chapter in the seemingly endless Chevron/Ecuador litigation began last week with attorney Steven Donziger and his Ecuadorian clients submitting separate appellate briefs to the Second Circuit arguing that the district court’s decision in favor of Chevron should be reversed.     Read more...

Human Rights Organizations File Amicus Brief Opposing Chevron RICO Decision

Ruling poses serious threat to free speech and democracy
15 July 2014 | Amazon Watch

Oakland, CA – Chevron and U.S. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan have acted to trample the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens who dare to speak out against human rights abuses, environmental destruction and corporate misdeeds, according to human rights and environmental organizations Amnesty International, Amazon Watch, Friends of the Earth and the Rainforest Action Network, among others.     Read more...

Defending Our First Amendment Rights from Chevron

15 July 2014 | CSR Strategy Group

In an unprecedented legal move, 17 U.S.-based civil society organizations – among them Amnesty International, Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network, and Friends of the Earth – have just filed an amicus brief in federal appeals court defending their First Amendment rights from attack by Chevron.     Read more...

Law Scholars from 11 Countries Urge Reversal of Chevron RICO Decision, Saying Judge Kaplan Violated International Law

Support for Villagers Increasing as Human Rights and Environmental Groups Also Urge Reversal of Controversial Decision
11 July 2014 | Donziger and Associates

New York, NY – Thirty-six international law scholars from 11 countries have joined numerous civil society organizations and the government of Ecuador in asking a New York appeals court to overturn what they call a second unlawful attempt by federal trial judge Lewis A. Kaplan to "dictate" to the world's courts that they should block enforcement of the $9.5 billion Ecuador environmental judgment against Chevron.     Read more...

Donziger Appeal: Judge Kaplan Allowed Corrupt Witness Testimony, Violated International Law and Stretched RICO Past "Breaking Point"

8 July 2014 | Hinton Communications

New York, NY – U.S. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan stretched the RICO statute beyond its "breaking point," committed reversible error by accepting corrupt witness testimony, disregarded the overwhelming scientific evidence of Chevron's contamination in Ecuador, and unlawfully interfered with a final decision from another nation's Supreme Court when he imposed an injunction in favor of the oil company in a two-decade dispute with rainforest villagers over widespread oil contamination.     Read more...

Chevron's Ecuadorean Foes Invoke Scalia on Appeal

7 July 2014 | Courthouse News Service

Ecuadoreans hoping to overturn a decision declaring their $9.5 billion environmental verdict against Chevron fraudulent argued that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would have endorsed how the oil giant's litigation was handled there, in a surprising 2nd Circuit brief.     Read more...

How Chevron Cheated Ecuador's Courts from Hearing Evidence of Its Contamination

1 July 2014 | The Chevron Pit

The deceptions deployed by Chevron's chief scientist and a tainted consultant have come to light in a legal brief filed by Ecuador's government in its arbitration dispute with Chevron.     Read more...

Cartoon Highlights Gibson Dunn's "Legal Thuggery" On Chevron's Behalf

Latest installment of satirical cartoon series calls out Chevron's threats against those who want to hold the oil giant accountable for the mess it made in the Amazon.
1 July 2014 | MintPress

Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore, the satirical series was created to draw the public’s attention to the threats Chevron has leveled against environmentalists, journalists, scientists and locals who have tried to hold the company accountable for dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into rivers and streams, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil, and abandoning hazardous waste in hundreds of unlined open-air pits littered throughout the Amazon region.     Read more...

More Chevron Hypocrisy: Super-Lawyer Ted Olson Allows HBO To Film Confidential Meetings

24 June 2014 | The Chevron Pit

After the GDC trial team led by Randy Mastro bribed a key witness to win its farcical RICO case in New York, and after Chevron scientists orchestrated a massive scientific hoax on the courts of Ecuador, we now have Chevron’s most prominent outside lawyer and a leading beacon of the Republican establishment working with two directors to make a documentary film about his own case.     Read more...

"Legal Tender"

Donny Rico on how Chevron’s legal thuggery really works
24 June 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

At long last we bring you Episode #3 in The Adventures of Donny Rico, a clever deep dive into the methods used by Chevron in its desperate and unethical campaign to turn the tables on the very victims it poisoned in Ecuador's rainforest.     Read more...

Back to Basics in Ecuador (Part 1): What’s the Damage?

23 June 2014 | CSR Strategy Group

It is reports of this kind that reinforce the fact that Chevron’s lingering liability in Ecuador is still far from being resolved. As such, it underscores risks to shareholders that Chevron’s management has downplayed but has still not effectively disclosed or managed.     Read more...

New Study Confirms Chevron Caused "Widespread" Pollution and Health Problems in Ecuador, Validating Historic Court Judgement

Company also hid dirty samples from Court; New boost to villagers as they seek Chevron assets
18 June 2014 | Hinton Communications

New York, NY – A new report prepared by a team of prominent American scientists after the end of the Lago Agrio trial found that Chevron caused "widespread" toxic contamination to indigenous ancestral lands in Ecuador's rainforest that persists to this day, directly contradicting the company's defense in the Ecuador environmental litigation and providing a new boost to efforts by villagers to seize Chevron's assets abroad.     Read more...

When Might = Right: How Chevron Got Out of a $19 Billion Lawsuit*

* An excellent analysis of Chevron's tactics, although the company is still liable for $9.5 billion, despite its unethical actions.
16 June 2014 | Huffington Post

Chevron has put unprecedented resources into its campaign against the Ecuadorian villagers, hiring more than 60 law firms and 2,000 legal professionals to wage a war of attrition.     Read more...

Amazon Communities Nullify Patton Boggs Fee in Ecuador Pollution Case

13 June 2014 | Gowen Group Law Office

Quito, Ecuador – Leaders of the Ecuadorian rainforest communities who won a $9.5 billion environmental judgment against Chevron have terminated a fee award to the American law firm Patton Boggs because it prejudiced its former clients and agreed to turn over confidential client information to the oil company.     Read more...

Chevron: Release the Secret Evidence that Proves Your Guilt in Ecuador

12 June 2014 | Huffington Post

Chevron's contamination "playbook" details how the company hid evidence of contamination during an eight-year Ecuador trial resulting in a $9.5 billion damage award that the Ecuadorians are waiting for Chevron to pay. Instead of succumbing to Chevron's pressure tactics, lawyers should demand to see "playbook" documents that the company has been forced to produce in an international arbitration proceeding.     Read more...

Do Lobbyists Win Trials? Lessons from Chevron vs. Ecuador Trial

31 May 2014 | Resiliance

When a high profile case such as this one stops being about real problems, focusing instead on ancillary issues, then that’s a disservice to justice. Chevron’s unorthodox lobbying tactics and courtroom theatrics seem to prove that the scales of justice tilt in the favor of those with deeper pockets. The indigenous people of the Amazon deserve better.     Read more...

Activist Shareowners Make Their Way to Texas to Confront Chevron

31 May 2014 | SocialFunds.com

"Chevron is using Judge Kaplan's ruling for everything they can get out of it," said Simon Billenness, referring to a recent court ruling which, according to Burt Neuborne, the Founding Legal Director of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, sends "an unmistakable message of American judicial arrogance to the rest of the world that can only result in increased levels of reciprocal judicial suspicion and hostility, with negative consequences for the transnational rule of law."     Read more...

Chevron's Dissident Shareholders Unmoved by Its Big Win in N.Y.

29 May 2014 | Courthouse News Service

Chevron's federal court victory and campaign against its critics has not stifled dissent from the New York State comptroller and other shareholders over its potential liabilities in Ecuador, new meeting records show.     Read more...

"Who's Bribin' Who?"

Donny Rico (and Chevron) explain how to pollute the Amazon and get away wit’ it.
28 May 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Do people give people backpacks full of cold hard cash in exchange for legal testimony? People do. Chevron should know. They did exactly that. But of course you won't be hearing John Watson mention that to the company's shareholders.     Read more...

Open Letter from Texaco's Victims to Chevron's Shareholders

28 May 2014 | UDAPT

Human being to human being, we request you to distance yourselves from the unfortunate decisions of Mr. Watson. He has steered your company into world-wide #AntiChevron waters, and you do not need to share his responsibility in this.     Read more...

The Road to Midland, Texas

27 May 2014 | CSR Strategy Group

Once again going to move a resolution at the Chevron annual shareholder meeting. I keenly await the time when Chevron’s management changes its course away from endless litigation and reaches a fair and equitable settlement with the communities in Ecuador affected by the oil pollution.     Read more...

What Happens When an Oil Company Actually Chooses to Be a Sociopath? #AntiChevron Day

22 May 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

You gotta give Chevron credit for bringing people together. Communities on five continents came together yesterday to denounce the oil giant's environmental and human rights practices.     Read more...

Ecuador Villagers Seek to Block Patton Boggs Settlement Due to "Flagrant" Ethical Violations

22 May 2014 | Hinton Communications

Quito, Ecuador – Ecuadorian villagers are demanding that a U.S. federal court block the settlement between the Patton Boggs law firm and Chevron on the grounds that it contains "flagrant" ethical violations that impose severe prejudice on the indigenous rainforest communities that won a historic environmental judgment against the oil giant.     Read more...

Spain: Boycott Called Against Chevron for Amazon Damage

21 May 2014 | Prensa Latina

Madrid, Spain – Spanish ecological and social organizations along with political parties called today for a boycott of Chevron-Texaco products until that company pays the fine imposed by Ecuadorian courts for the damages it caused to the Amazon.     Read more...

Richmond Residents Rally at Chevron's Refinery to Mark a Global Day of Action

21 May 2014 | KPFA News

KPFA News' Nick St. Charles interviews protesters at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California on world #AntiChevron day.     Read more...

Global Anti-Chevron Day: Environmental Activists Stage Protests Worldwide

21 May 2014 | RT

Anti-Chevron activists have joined in a global event across five continents to protest against Chevron Corporation's track record on human rights violations and particularly the environmental damage caused by the international corporation.     Read more...

Chevron Management Hit with Protests on Five Continents over Environmental Abuses

"Global Day of Action" Asks Consumers and Governments to Reject Chevron Products
21 May 2014 | Amazon Watch

Richmond, CA – In a global protest event spanning five continents, several communities affected by Chevron's sloppy operational practices call on consumers and governments to not do business with oil giant until the company's management team cleans up its act and implements new policies to better protect the environment.     Read more...

Advocates Press on in Chevron's Ecuador Contamination Case

Despite a legal setback, advocates cite “overwhelming” evidence of Chevron contamination in Ecuador – especially the results of Chevron’s own tests
20 May 2014 | MintPress

"Chevron has charged that the Ecuadorian ‘conspirators' and their ‘co-conspirators,' like me, manufactured evidence about the contamination, and committed fraud," she wrote. "I find this utterly preposterous and assumed we would be allowed to aggressively refute and defend against these charges in court. We were not."     Read more...

Chevron Uses Deep Pockets to Win Ecuador Legal Battle

Amazon residents set back in mismatched litigation with US oil giant, but fight for justice continues
16 May 2014 | Al Jazeera

If the energy giant squanders hundreds of millions of dollars and the clean reputation it has worked hard to burnish and ultimately loses this fight, the cautionary tale will be for the Goliath of the story instead of the impoverished and marginalized Ecuadoreans.     Read more...

Chevron in Ecuador Representative of Multinationals' Continuing Abuse of Indigenous Peoples

Chevron's refusal to pay for the cleanup of oil contamination in Ecuador demonstrates the crisis of multinational corporations prioritizing profit over human rights
15 May 2014 | Truthout

Chevron's crude means of handling the Ecuadorean environmental crisis highlights the need for corporations across the world to make a big change in how they treat indigenous societies and to stop making excuses for their consistent disregard for others' humanity.     Read more...

Chevron Tests Revealed Illegal Levels of Toxins

Fake cleanup misled villagers who built homes on polluted sites
12 May 2014 | Hinton Communications

New York, NY – Contamination tests, taken by Chevron during an Ecuador trial, revealed illegal levels of toxins, some carcinogenic, in the soil and water of the Ecuadorian rainforest.     Read more...

Chevron's Ecuador Plan B

9 May 2014 | Huffington Post

Test results from the Ecuador trial support what the villagers have always alleged: Chevron contaminated their land, using substandard drilling practices to minimize costs and maximize profit. The real news is the cover-up of the mess they left behind.     Read more...

Chevron Test Results From Ecuador Court Record

1 May 2014

Official test results taken by Chevron's independent experts and submitted to an Ecuador court which show extensive contamination of the environment with toxic chemicals and metals resulting from Chevron's oil exploration.     Read more...

In Long-Fought Victory for Anonymous Email Users, Chevron Agrees to Withdraw Google and Yahoo! Subpoenas

30 April 2014 | EarthRights International

Chevron has finally ended its efforts to obtain information from email accounts belonging to activists, attorneys, journalists and others who have spoken out against the company.     Read more...

Under Fire from Critics, Chevron CEO Quietly Moves Annual Shareholder Meeting to Remote Town in Texas

28 April 2014 | Gowen Group Law Office

San Francisco, CA – Under fire from shareholders and rainforest villagers over a $9.5 billion court judgment, Chevron CEO John Watson has made elaborate plans to move his annual meeting to a remote Texas town in the heart of oil country as a way to avoid his critics.     Read more...

Communities from Five Countries Blast Chevron Over Shoddy Environmental Practices

Launch Global Campaign Against Company and its Products
25 April 2014 | Amazon Watch

Oakland, CA – Community leaders from several countries, including indigenous and farmer communities from the rainforest of Ecuador, announced today a worldwide call for global day of actions in opposition to Chevron to be launched during late May just before the company's 2014 annual shareholders meeting.     Read more...

The Bush Doctrine Comes to Oakland Courtesy of Chevron

23 March 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Chevron is so scared of the truth that even having someone in the room who might talk about their acts is a threat. This is not an isolated incident, but rather a concerted attack on environmental advocacy.      Read more...

Environmentalist Kicked Out of Chevron-Sponsored Event

After organizers of a Chevron-sponsored economic development summit learned of a paying attendee’s association with an environmental watchdog, he was forcibly ejected from the event.
18 April 2014 | MintPress News

"My plan was to be there, listen to what they have to say, interact with the people at the conference," said Paz y Miño. "Supposedly, these are businesses in Oakland that are concerned with green and sustainable energy. I thought they would be interested in the information."     Read more...

Environmental Activist Forcibly Removed from Chevron-Sponsored Event in Oakland for Mocking the Company's "News" Website

16 April 2014 | East Bay Express

"Chevron has been out to crush free speech in relation to its policies for years and now apparently opposing views are not even allowed in the room," Paz y Miño said. "It's outrageous. They want to crush any kind of open discussion or debate about their actions here or anywhere in the world."     Read more...

The Unnecessary Truth: Reflections on What Wasn't Told in the Chevron Ecuador RICO Case

15 April 2014 | EarthRights International

During the trial, witnesses like Donald were told that they could not speak about the contamination of their lands and water that Chevron’s predecessor, Texaco, had deliberately caused. The attorneys were not allowed to use the word “contamination” without approaching the bench, even in a case involving one of the largest environmental justice disputes in recent history.      Read more...

Report: Judge Kaplan Let Chevron Make "Mockery of Justice" in New York RICO Case

4 April 2014 | Gowen Group Law Office

New York, NY – A new report concludes Chevron made a "mockery of justice" and bribed a witness during its retaliatory RICO case in New York, leading to a likely reversal by U.S. appellate courts and a growing risk for the oil giant in jurisdictions where the villagers are trying to seize assets to pay for a clean-up of their ancestral lands.     Read more...

Onetime Target of Keating Five Assails Big Oil

31 March 2014 | Courthouse News Service

Lago Agrio, Ecuador – An economist who studies and writes about what he considers corporate con jobs said he thinks Texaco got away with one during its time drilling the Ecuadorean Amazon, speaking on a plane flying over the fog-shrouded rivers and forest canopy of Ecuador's vast, oil-rich Oriente region.     Read more...

Interview with Steven Donziger

27 March 2014 | KPFA

Listen to Steven Donziger, lawyer for the Ecuadorian communities who successfully sued Chevron for $9.5 billion dollars, give an update on the case and Chevron's retaliatory RICO action aimed at silencing its critics and attempting to evade justice.     Read more...

"Without Clean Water, We Cannot Survive"

ClearWater: Building a movement for clean water & cultural survival
26 March 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

In just two years, ClearWater has installed more than 500 family-sized rainwater systems that serve thousands of people in communities who have long suffered an epidemic of cancer, birth defects, and other illnesses.     Read more...

Death Threats Made to Ecuadorian Lawyer in Chevron Pollution Case

Juan Pablo Saenz is representing small farmers trying to force Chevron to pay damages for pollution in the Amazon
26 March 2014 | The Guardian

"People are constantly following us in Ecuador," said lawyer Juan Pablo Saenz. "They said to me: 'Think very carefully about what you are doing, because it would be a shame if something happened to you and your family'."     Read more...

Don't Buy Chevron's Big Lie!

25 March 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Ironically, the grave danger from Chevron's farcical RICO ruling is not to the Ecuadorians seeking justice. The real danger is the precedent this sets for our work to hold Chevron and other U.S. corporations accountable.     Read more...

Chevron's Mockery of Justice

How the oil giant's RICO decision suffers from five fatal flaws
April 2014

This document details five reasons why Judge Kaplan’s decision is fatally flawed, unlikely to survive appeal, and unlikely to have a wider impact on enforcement actions in other jurisdictions.     Read more...

Interview with Steven Donziger, Lou Dematteis and Paul Paz y Miño

24 March 2014 | KPFA

KPFA Radio interview by Nina Serrano with human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, photographer Lou Dematteis and Paul Paz y Miño of Amazon Watch about the latest developments in the Chevron-Ecuador case and Chevron's RICO retaliatory attacks on Ecuadorian communities and their allies.     Read more...

Contested Tales of Life in Ecuador's Indigenous Oil-Rich Oriente Region

18 March 2014 | Courthouse News Service

The story of 78-year-old Manuel Salinas has been one of the most visible, heartbreaking and contested tales of the life in the oil-producing region of Ecuador's Oriente region.     Read more...

In the Chevron Court Case, Ordinary Ecuadorians' Voices Don't Seem to Count

Chevron is reluctant to give ground to the people affected by the dumping of toxic waste. But they're not going to stop fighting for compensation.
18 March 2014 | The Guardian

The Chevron case is something of a parable in two ways: first, it is a lesson about the incandescent response of multinational corporations to any questioning of them; second, it's a reminder how little the voices of campesinos (peasant farmers) and indigenous people in Latin America seem to count in the eyes of the companies that want to make use of their land.     Read more...

Donziger, Ecuadorians File Emergency Motion to Stay Judge Kaplan's RICO Decision

18 March 2014 | Donziger and Associates

New York, NY – aying the decision in Chevron's RICO case is without legal precedent, New York Attorney Steven Donziger and two Ecuadorian villagers today filed papers with Judge Lewis A. Kaplan seeking to stay his decision granting an injunction and other remedies to Chevron after it was hit with a $9.5 billion judgment in Ecuador for deliberately dumping toxic waste into the rainforest.     Read more...

Hell Will Freeze Over Before Chevron Pays for Pollution

7 March 2014 | VICE

Environmental groups believe this ruling has far-reaching implications beyond the Amazon, though. They say it signals a new trend in how corporations silence their opposition.      Read more...

Seeking Justice in Ecuador

5 March 2014 | Huffington Post

It is not my place, nor my expertise, to opine on the legal matters involved. I am nonetheless compelled, principally because of the suffering of humble, dignified people I have witnessed in Ecuador at the hands of an American company, to say that Chevron's legal and public relations tactics in this case constitute a grave injustice.     Read more...

Sentencia de Caso "RICO" No Detiene las Acciones de Cobro de las Victimas de Chevron

4 March 2014 | UDAPT

Quito, Ecuador – La decisión del juez Lews Kaplan en favor de Chevron – que condena a los moradores de la Amazonía ecuatoriana y a sus representantes – constituye una burla al Estado de Derecho, y no servirá para mitigar el riesgo que enfrenta la petrolera ante el inminente cobro de la sentencia dictada en su contra por la justicia ecuatoriana, sostiene Juan Pablo Sáenz, abogado de los indígenas y colonos que vencieron a la petrolera en las cortes ecuatorianas.     Read more...

Federal Ruling in Ecuador Pollution Case Violates First Amendment

4 March 2014 | Amazon Watch

New York, NY – Amazon Watch stands with Ecuadorian communities in rejecting a misguided judgment delaying justice for some 30,000 indigenous people and farmers who continue to suffer from the company's toxic legacy in the Amazon rainforest.     Read more...

Chevron's Flawed RICO Decision in Ecuador Case Violates First Amendment and Will Backfire in International Courts, Defendants Say

4 March 2014 | Donziger and Associates

New York, NY – A decision in favor of Chevron in a New York RICO case is wrong on the facts and the law, violates the First Amendment, and has little chance of helping the oil giant block international enforcement actions, according to statements issued today by the defendants.     Read more...

Chevron Compensates Victims of PA Gas Explosion: With Pizza

After a fatal gas well explosion in Pennsylvania earlier this month, Chevron adds insult to injury by giving local families coupons for pizza and soda.
20 February 2014 | MintPress

The pizza coupons are the company's "token of appreciation" for residents after an explosion on Feb. 11 in the rural community of Bobtown, Penn., sparked a fire that burned for about five days, killed one employee and injured another.     Read more...

BusinessWeek Demonstrates Why It's Better for Your Lawyers to Believe in Your Case

20 February 2014 | EarthRights International

Barrett has done us a service in confirming that, according to Gibson Dunn, Chevron allowed their lawyers to argue against them in another case. So Gibson Dunn may not be unethical, but Chevron might be a little stupid. Barrett also conveniently overlooks the fact that Gibson Dunn is not simply taking different positions in different cases - it's arguing against Chevron's position in another case that, because it is at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, will be binding on the lower court deciding the Chevron case.     Read more...

Chevron: "Let Them Eat Pizza!"

19 February 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

In a move that would make Montgomery Burns proud, Chevron "apologized" to the community for the massive explosion of their fracking well in rural Pennsylvania by offering each affected family a coupon for a free pizza.     Read more...

Chevron Claims Political Cartoons Are Extortion

"I'm honored they feel injured by the cartoon," the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist said.
18 February 2014 | MintPress

Earlier this month, Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore shared on his personal website that Chevron filed court documents saying it was "injured" by a cartoon Fiore had created with Amazon Watch.     Read more...

Conoce a Donziger

Por defender la Amazonia, está demandado por un gigante corporativo.
17 February 2014 | VICE

Este caso es parte de una lucha social. Las comunidades de Ecuador están luchando, no solamente contra Chevron, sino contra quinientos años de historia en América Latina. Y eso, realmente, es lo que está en el fondo de este caso. Los conquistadores nunca entregan sus privilegios voluntariamente: hay que luchar.     Read more...

We Will Never Forget

14 February 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Justice delayed is justice denied. For the sake of Maria Aguinda and thousands more like her, let us today re-commit to fighting until the people of the Ecuadorian Amazon get the relief they have sought for too long already.     Read more...

Oil Giant Chevron Abuses Anti-Mob Laws to Target Cartoonist

Chevron claims that a cartoon criticizing the oil company's lawsuit against Ecuadorian villagers is an extortion attempt.
13 February 2014 | AlterNet

“The nutshell version is this,” explains Fiore. “Chevron was sued by villagers in Ecuador for leaving toxic waste all over the jungle. Chevron lost the case and was hit with a multibillion-dollar judgment. Chevron appealed and lost that, too. Then Chevron filed RICO charges against the villagers and the lead attorney on the case....accusing them of racketeering and being involved in a huge conspiracy to clean up the jungle and extort money from Chevron.”     Read more...

How Chevron Might Have a Lawsuit Against Its Own Law Firm for Blowing the RICO Case

13 February 2014 | The Chevron Pit

Chevron's "Dream Team" at the Gibson Dunn law firm has yet to come up with an explanation for its monumental mistake last week in undermining the company's RICO case against Ecuadorian villagers and their lawyers.     Read more...

Chevron's Own Lawyers Jeopardize Fate of Chevron-Ecuador RICO Lawsuit

12 February 2014 | EarthRights International

Last week, Gibson Dunn may have shot the Chevron case in the foot, arguing to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that a private party can’t seek an injunction under RICO. This is the opposite of the argument they've made in Chevron’s RICO lawsuit in the district court in New York.     Read more...

Catch-22 Could Ensnare Chevron Lawyers Fighting Ecuador Verdict

7 February 2014 | Courthouse News Service

New York, NY – Chevron's own law firm could scuttle the efforts to negate a $9.5 billion oil-spill judgment from the Amazon in a Friday hearing for different clients.     Read more...

Chevron Law Firm Gibson Dunn Concedes that Legal Basis for RICO Case Against Ecuadorians Is Invalid

Gibson Dunn argues to 2nd Circuit a position on RICO directly contrary to one it is taking before Judge Kaplan
6 February 2014 | Donziger and Associates

New York, NY – In a stunning development, the corporate law firm leading Chevron's campaign to evade a $9.5 billion Ecuador court judgment has filed briefs before a federal appeals court conceding that the oil giant's RICO case in the United States lacks a valid legal basis and might be fatally flawed.     Read more...

Chevron's Now Going After Political Cartoonists

The oil conglomerate is claiming injuries from a satirical video
5 February 2014 | Salon.com

How desperate is Chevron to get out of paying billions in damages for oil contamination in Ecuador’s rainforest? Very, according to Mark Fiore. The Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist claims the company has filed court documents over a satirical video he made in conjunction with the environmental nonprofit Amazon Watch.     Read more...

Chevron Cries: "Please Your Honor, Make the Cartoons Stop!"

5 February 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Cartoons are dangerous. In fact, Chevron wants a US Federal Court to believe cartoons are even more dangerous than dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon and then suing the very people it poisoned.     Read more...

Christie Defense Lawyer Randy Mastro Has Ethical Problems of His Own

Who Ordered Christie's Attack Memo On Wildstein – Straight from the Randy Mastro Playbook?
3 February 2014 | The Chevron Pit

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s choice of a defense lawyer to lead him through his various scandals is becoming more and more curious. After all, that lawyer – Randy Mastro of the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher – has his own rather extraordinary history of controversy and ethical problems.     Read more...

Ecuador Wins Discovery Battle Against Chevron

31 January 2014 | Courthouse News Service

Chevron must hand over documents that Ecuador believes will help it in arbitration that the oil giant initiated to fight a multibillion environmental verdict, the 9th Circuit ruled.     Read more...

Donziger's New Appellate Team Comes Out Firing; Asks for Nullification of RICO Case

29 January 2014 | The Chevron Pit

The move to dismiss the RICO case is based largely on Chevron's surprise admission in its final post-trial brief that it cannot block foreign enforcement proceedings that rainforest villagers are using to collect on their $9.5 billion environmental judgment.      Read more...

Since When Did Lobbying and PR Become Extortion?

I do advocacy work. So why am I accused of being part of a criminal conspiracy?
28 January 2014 | Politico Magazine

Within the next two months, a New York federal judge is expected to rule in an environmental case that goes to the core of how lobbyists, publicists and other advocates up and down K Street make their living.     Read more...

Donziger's New Legal Team Strikes Back at Chevron by Seeking Nullification of RICO Case

28 January 2014 | Donziger and Associates

New York, NY – In a bold and unusual move, the new appellate team representing New York attorney Steven Donziger is seeking to dismiss Chevron's retaliatory RICO case because the oil giant now admits that there is nothing that a U.S. court can do to block foreign enforcement proceedings targeting the company's assets.     Read more...

Lawyer Fighting Chevron Hires a Heavy for Appeal

24 January 2014 | The Wall Street Journal

"I could not be more proud to be representing Steven Donziger as his lead appellate counsel," said Mr. Gupta, in a statement. "For anyone who cares about the rule of law, Chevron's retaliatory RICO action should be deeply troubling."     Read more...

Advocacy Groups Blast Chevron for Retaliation Tactics Against Ecuador Villagers and Their Supporters

U.S. legal advocate for Ecuadorians announces crack appellate team as final briefs are filed in Chevron's Retaliatory RICO Case
23 January 2014 | Amazon Watch

Washington, DC – More than 40 U.S. civil society groups are coming to the defense of the Ecuadorian indigenous and farmer communities who won a historic environmental lawsuit against Chevron but have been subject to vicious retaliatory attacks by the oil company, according to a letter released today.     Read more...

Shut It, You Long-Haired Hippie

An "anti-public service" message from Donny Rico
21 January 2014 | Eye on the Amazon

Donny Rico here to deliver a message to all you long-haired hippie activist types complaining about the environment and human rights. Be warned: things have changed in America and you need to keep your mouths shut.     Read more...

New Christie Attack Dog Attorney No Friend to Ecuador's Indigenous Peoples

20 January 2014 | The Huffington Post

In light of Mastro's tactics in the Ecuador affair, perhaps we should expect the unexpected when it comes to the unfolding investigation into Chris Christie's affairs. A master of the counter-suit, Mastro might seek to question the credibility of Christie opponents or to underhandedly change the "narrative."     Read more...

Desperation: Chevron CEO Asked Venezuela President for Help on Ecuador

In 2014, Watson Faces Host of Challenges As Company Tries to Evade Accountability for Toxic Dumping
9 January 2014 | The Chevron Pit

One example of the company's desperation: news reports from Latin America recently disclosed that Watson pleaded in person with Venezuela’s new President, Nicolas Maduro, for help in blocking enforcement of the Ecuador judgment.     Read more...

Lost In Translation: Justice for the Ecuadorian Villagers in Chevron's Retaliatory RICO Trial

8 January 2014 | The Huffington Post

In the opening of his final brief on behalf of the Ecuadorians, Julio Gomez aptly wrote: "The United States courts have failed the Ecuadorian Amazon communities." Within the next two months Kaplan is expected to issue his opinion. In the eyes of the Ecuadorians that is all it will be - his opinion and, an arrogant one, at that.     Read more...