The Chevron Pit

Diego Borja: On the Chevron Dole

2012-01-30T23:08:00.008-05:00

What’s in the Files of Chevron’s $2.2 Million Man?

Gotta read this article by San Francisco Chronicle’s energy reporter, David Baker, about Chevron’s paying its own self-described “dirty tricks” operative $2.2 million in hush money.

The Chevron Pit believes the oil giant paid Diego Borja so he wouldn’t blow the whistle on its fraudulent sampling protocol at contaminated well sites during the Ecuador trial that recently resulted in an $18 billion judgment against Chevron for massive oil contamination.

Baker writes:

“In the sprawling legal drama surrounding Chevron Corp. in Ecuador, Diego Borja has played one of the strangest roles. In 2009, Borja and a colleague used amateur spy equipment to secretly record two meetings with the Ecuadorian judge presiding over a massive oil-field pollution lawsuit against Chevron…. Questions soon arose about Borja … and his colleague, an American named Wayne Hansen.”

Plenty of questions. Like what’s on Borja’s iPhone?

In a taped conversation with a childhood friend, Borja said if Chevron didn’t pay him handsomely for the videotapes of the judge, he would turn over evidence convicting Chevron in the Ecuador case.

He said he had the goods on Chevron, and some of them were stored on his iPhone.

As Baker discusses, Chevron has spent $1 million in legal fees on Borja alone to prevent the Ecuadorians from obtaining additional discovery from the mysterious Borja files, including data on his iPhone.

A decision in a California federal court on the Ecuadorians’ discovery request is pending.

Borja was a longtime Chevron consultant who lifted soil and water samples during dozens of critical court-supervised inspections during the eight-year trial from 2003 to 2011.

Today he’s unemployed, hanging out in Houston on the Chevron dole while company lawyers and private investigators tend to his every need.

In addition to paying Borja a monthly retainer for doing nothing, Chevron pays his wife as well for a job that no one seems able to describe.

Chevron also picks up rent for their house, their furniture, their car, cell phones and other life necessities.

His buddy, Wayne Hansen, doesn’t have it bad either.

Adam Klasfeld of Courthouse News got his hands on some emails between Hansen and Chevron’s private investigators that tell us Hansen is hanging in Peru, enjoying life.

Come on down, Hansen tells one of Chevron’s private investigators in an email. The water is fine, and you can live like a king for $1,200 a month.

Hansen, who is a convicted drug felon, wasn’t so jovial a year or so before when he wrote another Chevron private investigator that no one was taking care of “Wayne;” that Diego had a deal, but not him.

Hansen’s attitude toward Chevron clearly perked up by the time he landed in Peru a few weeks after the Government of Ecuador sought to subpoena him in the United States for his role in taping the judge. (It’s illegal to videotape anyone secretly in Ecuador.)

Ask yourself: How did Hansen, who has no visible means of support, find himself in Peru on the heels of a subpoena?

Why was Hansen communicating with Chevron’s private eyes?

The plot thickens. More is sure to follow.

Read these other interesting article, too, about the exploits of Borja and Hansen: Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones, Rebecca Beyer of the Daily Journal and Braden Reddall and Dan Levine of Reuters.

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Chevron’s Deceit Exposed In “Legal Misapprehension” Ruling

2012-01-30T09:04:00.008-05:00

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Chevron's case against a group of Ecuadorian indigenous peoples, the oil giant's CEO John Watson accused them of fraud in an analyst call, while trying to explain his $18 billion problem in Ecuador and his $11 billion one in Brazil.

Yet, a close read of the court's opinion reveals Watson’s lawsuit itself was the actual fraud that not only cost the indigenous groups greatly -- both emotionally and financially -- but also delayed a cleanup of the oil company's toxic mess in the Amazon rainforest that is costing lives.

Last week the three-judge panel dismissed in its entirety a lower court ruling that sought to block enforcement of the $18 billion Ecuador judgment against Chevron for the deliberate and massive contamination of the Amazon rainforest.

Judge Gerard Lynch wrote that lower court’s "endorsement" of Chevron's "theory of relief" was a "legal misapprehension."

We don't use the word "misapprehension" a lot. Here are a few synonyms, according to Thesaurus.com:

absurdity, blunder, boo-boo, delusion, fallacy, falsehood, goof, howler, screamer, screw-up, sin, transgression, trespass, untruth, wrongdoing

Chevron’s “theory of relief” revolved around twisting a New York state statute used to enforce foreign judgments to make it an affirmative weapon to block the enforcement of foreign judgments anywhere in the world.

The theory was opposed by almost every legal academic the world over, many of whom filed amicus briefs explaining how absurd it was for a U.S. trial court judge to think he could dictate to judges around the world how they should rule on the enforceability of a foreign country's judgment. See here and here.

Chevron sold off its holdings in Ecuador in anticipation of an adverse judgment in that country, forcing the rainforest communities to consider standard collection actions against company assets around the world.

The panel wrote that the Recognition Act "nowhere authorizes a court to declare a foreign judgment unenforceable on the preemptive suit of a putative judgment-debtor (Chevron) .... (the act) and the common law principles it encapsulates are motivated by an interest to provide for the enforcement of foreign judgments, not to prevent them." (Emphasis added.)

So, Chevron was allowed to drag the Ecuadorians, their country, and their courts threw the mud for almost a year due to a legal "boo-boo" and a "goof".

The appellate panel also wrote that concerns about jurisdictional mutual respect among countries become "far graver" when "a court in one country attempts to preclude the courts of every other nation from ever considering the effect of that foreign judgment .....

"In such an instance the court risks disrespecting the legal system not only of the court in which the judgment was issued, but also of those other countries, who are inherently assumed insufficiently trustworthy to recognize what is asserted to be the extreme incapacity of the legal system from which the judgment emanates."

The lower court, the panel wrote, did not address the legal rules that would "govern enforceability of an Ecuadorian judgment under the laws of France, Russia, Brazil, Singapore, Saudi Arabia or any of the scores of countries, with widely varying legal systems, in which the plaintiffs might undertake to enforce their judgment."

That's some humbling stuff for Chevron and its theory of relief.

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Gibson Dunn: Litigation Disaster of the Year Award

2012-01-27T08:23:00.008-05:00

Can We Get A Re-Count?

So much for Gibson Dunn's Litigation Firm of the Year Award, recently bestowed on it by the legal publication, American Lawyer.

If ever there was a reason for a re-count, it's now.

In a critical ruling yesterday, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals seriously dissed Chevron's law firm Gibson Dunn and specifically its lead partner on the Ecuador case, Randy Mastro, in its outright dismissal of a lower court ruling that sought to block enforcement of an $18 billion Ecuador judgment against the oil giant for massive contamination in the Amazon rainforest.

In selecting Gibson Dunn as its Litigation Firm of the Year, the highly-conflicted American Lawyer described Mastro as .... well, a maestro of legal strategy.

(American Lawyer covers the legal fight between Chevron and the Ecuadorians yet, at the same time, worships at the Gibson Dunn altar -- and its advertising budget.)

Gibson Dunn itself brags openly about its ability to "change" laws so its huge corporate clients can run amuck in developing countries, much like Chevron did in Ecuador. Read all about it at Paul Paz y Mino's great Huffington Post blog here.

But the 2nd Circuit decision painted a much different picture than the one American Lawyer sketches regularly for its legal audience.

Despite Mastro's arguments to the contrary, the three judges said the lower court did not have the authority to “dictate to the entire world which judgments are entitled to respect and which countries’ courts are to be treated as international pariahs."

Ouch, Randy.

And, there's more:

“It is a particularly weighty matter for a court in one country to declare that another country’s legal system is so corrupt or unfair that its judgments are entitled to no respect from the courts of other nations. In such an instance, the court risks disrespecting the legal system not only of the country in which the judgment was issued, but also of other countries, who are inherently assumed insufficiently trustworthy to recognize what is asserted to be the extreme incapacity of the legal system from which the judgment emanates.”

Double ouch.

Now maybe you're thinking The Chevron Pit is being too catty about Mastro's run of bad decisions -- there have been four in all. See here.

But Randy Mastro is the lawyer who stood before dozens of U.S. courts and called the victims of his client's misconduct in Ecuador "criminals," "con men," and "extortionists" guilty of atrocities worse than any the "Mafia mobsters" have committed.

So excuse us for pointing out the obvious: Gibson Dunn lost the argument. One judge, one court, one law firm cannot sit in judgment of another sovereign country's judiciary, especially since Chevron wanted the trial there in the first place.

One day the real story about Chevron in Ecuador will be told, and it will be abundantly clear the only fraud committed in the context of this historical and important lawsuit was Chevron's.

Read the judgment here.

Randy Mastro

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In Critical Ruling, Chevron Hit Hard By Federal Appellate Court

2012-01-26T15:44:00.001-05:00

Judge Kaplan Ordered To Dismiss Chevron Case Against Ecuador

Amazon Defense Coalition, 26 January 2012, Contact: Karen Hinton, 703-798-3109, karen@hintoncommunications.com

U.S. representatives for the Ecuadorians, who recently won an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador against Chevron for massive contamination, issued the following statements today about the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, dismissing a lower court ruling that sought to prevent enforcement of the Ecuador judgment.

Karen Hinton, U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians, said:

"A grave injustice against the Ecuadorians has been set right by today's 2nd Circuit ruling. It rebukes Chevron's abusive legal tactics of the past two years designed solely to malign the very people who suffer as a result of the company's deliberate poisoning of their homeland, the Ecuadorian rainforest. Once Ecuadorian law allows enforcement of the judgment, it will become even more evident that the only fraud committed in Ecuador in the context of this historic environmental litigation was Chevron's. Chevron's fraud includes the deliberate use of substandard operational practices all designed to further inflate company profits at the expense of human life, the manipulation of scientific evidence during the trial and the launching of a smear campaign to distract attention from its own misconduct."

Craig Smyser of Smyser Kaplan & Veselka in Houston, an attorney for the Ecuadorians, said:

"The Ecuadorian inhabitants of the Amazon river basin today scored a remarkable victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. That court rejected Chevron’s efforts to declare the Ecuadorian judgment invalid and unenforceable and instead ordered the New York trial court to dismiss Chevron’s claim for injunctive and declarative relief in its entirety. For 18 years, the Ecuadorians have sought vindication for Chevron’s pollution of their land, rivers, and lives with toxic wastes as a result of Chevron’s substandard drilling practices that would not have been permitted in the United States.

“Instead of confronting its environmental despoliation, Chevron has engaged in an international smear campaign of lawyer- and court-bashing. As a result of the 2nd Circuit’s opinion today and the confirmation of the Ecuadorian trial court’s judgment by the Ecuadorian appellate court, the wheels of the law are bringing Chevron to justice. This decision vindicates the application of international law and comity to these proceedings in New York.”

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Chevron's Fraud On Public Display In U.S. Courts

2012-01-24T10:05:00.005-05:00

Oil Giant's Unclean Hands Soil Its Image

Chevron's fraudulent conduct during the Ecuador trial for massive oil contamination is on public display for all to see in recently-released U.S. court documents.

They reveal that Chevron has paid its "dirty tricks" operative Diego Borja $2.2 million in retainer fees, living expenses, income taxes and legal fees.

They also reveal that Borja was one of several testers at contaminated well sites who manipulated the soil and water samples to Chevron's advantage before submitting them to the court as evidence.

Here's some background for those of you new to the Borja story.

In 2009 Borja, along with his mysterious partner Wayne Hansen, secretly videotaped a judge in a failed effort to derail the trial that charged Chevron with deliberately contaminating the rainforest and resulted in an $18 billion judgment against the company.

Chevron whisked Borja and his family out of Ecuador and into the U.S. after Borja turned over the tapes to Chevron. Later, though, Borja threatened to turn evidence against Chevron if he was not paid handsomely for them.

Since that revelation, the Borjas have been practically under house arrest in Houston, but the money ain't shabby so maybe they don't mind. See court documents here.

Chevron has picked up their rent, the car payments and the costs for a washer, dryer, and all their furniture. Both Borjas get retainer checks every month. The wife has a job with Chevron but nobody seems to know what she does exactly. Borja is unemployed.

Why is this a problem? Borja is likely to be a witness in pending litigation and hearings about the $18 billion judgment. Will Borja bite the hand that feeds him? We doubt it, and that's exactly the Chevron plan.

We hope the news media won't let Chevron get away with it. Hats are off to the reporters who have taken the time to peruse these documents.

See articles by Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones, Adam Klasfeld of Courthouse News, Rebecca Beyer of the Daily Journal and Braden Reddall and Dan Levine of Reuters.

Sheppard recently revealed a Chevron document that directed Chevron employees or consultants on how to test for contamination at the well sites in Ecuador. Bottom line: prior to the official testing day, go and figure out where the clean spots are; test far away and uphill from the unlined pits full of pure crude; any "dirty" samples you find, send them, not to the court, but a secret lab. Read more here.

Klasfeld got his hands on some eye-popping emails, after Chevron mistakenly sent them to him, that confirmed the oil giant had “cut a deal” with its most infamous contamination tester -- none other than Diego Borja. He also reported on an email that revealed Hansen, an American citizen, is living large in Peru. In another email, Hansen thanked a Chevron private investigator for his help, encouraging the PI to join him in Peru where one could "live like a king" for $1,200 a month. See here. Care to speculate how Hansen ended up in Peru? Hint: He landed there only a few weeks after he was subpoenaed by the Government of Ecuador about the secret tapes he made with Borja. He basically escaped the U.S. before the Government of Ecuador could depose him for questioning.

Beyer quoted a law professor at Pennsylvania State University questioning the ethics and legality of Chevron's payments to Borja as a potential witness.

Reddall and Levine reported on Borja's statements, recorded by a childhood friend, that Chevron had "cooked" evidence in the trial and that he would turn evidence against Chevron if he wasn't paid for the tapes.

Visit ChevronToxico to find out more. Become a follower of The Chevron Pit. Support Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network.

Chevron's 500 Lawyers At 39 Law Firms Defeated For Third Time

2012-01-20T10:11:00.008-05:00

Five Impoverished Indigenous Groups One Step Closer To Justice

How many lawyers does it take to lose four court decisions in a row?

According to a Chevron declaration -- almost 500 lawyers and paralegals at 39 firms. See here.

Chevron's public face for its unprecedented legal attack against the impoverished Ecuadorians has been Gibson Dunn's Randy Mastro, a former political hack to tough guy Rudy Guiliani, a former NYC Mayor and onetime presidential candidate.

See here and here for more information.

Early on in the fight, Mastro got lucky when another fellow New Yorker, federal judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in Chevron's favor in its effort to block the $18 billion judgment out of Ecuador.

(The $18 billion is to cleanup the company's massive contamination of the rainforest, provide health care and deliver clean drinking water to the area.)

Kaplan and Mastro competed in court to see who could out-disparage and out-ridicule the indigenous groups. Read here about the disturbing comments Kaplan made from the bench about the Ecuadorians.

Mastro's luck ran out, though, when he appeared before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in September. The judges literally laughed at Mastro's argument that a U.S. court could sit in judgment of Ecuador's court system. One business day later, the court threw out Chevron's case.

In January, after Ecuador's appellate court upheld the $18 billion judgment, Chevron went back to its favorite judge, but even Kaplan wouldn't touch the oil giant's desperate plea to stop the Ecuadorians from enforcing the judgment.

Seeking relief from what Chevron described as "imminent harm," Mastro tried again twice with the 2nd Circuit but failed -- denying the company's motion to block enforcement block the judgment and ending Chevron's 18-month odyssey in U.S. courts to derail the Ecuadorian trial. A trial it asked for and fought for ten years ago.

For more insights into Mastro’s “legal thuggery,” see this Huffington Post blog.

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Chevron Defeated For Third Time In US Courts!

2012-01-19T20:55:00.004-05:00

Ecuadorians One Step Closer To Justice

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has refused Chevron again, denying its motion to block enforcement of the $18 billion judgment in Ecuador. This is the third consecutive legal setback for Chevron. Here's the statement from the Ecuadorians, who against all odds have defeated the oil giant and its 39 law firms and 500 lawyers fighting five impoverished indigenous tribes in the Amazon rainforest.

"The Ecuadorian communities affected by Chevron's contamination are one step closer to justice as a result of today's ruling. For almost two decades, Chevron has stood in the way of a comprehensive cleanup of billions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste water it deliberately dumped into the pristine rainforest. Thousands of people have died or suffered as the oil giant and its legions of lawyers have fought to distract attention from the overwhelming evidence against the company.

"Now a U.S. appellate court has refused to grant Chevron relief from blocking the $18 billion judgment of an Ecuadorian court that it should pay for a clean-up. With its promise to fight the Ecuadorians until hell freezes over, Chevron reveals its callous disregard for the rule of law and the humanity of indigenous groups.

"Chevron's legal options to evade the Ecuador judgment continue to narrow. Chevron's shareholders must now understand that the company's management team is putting their interests at great risk due to the company's bungling of the Ecuador litigation."

In September, a federal appellate panel blocked Chevron's attempt to seek an unprecedented worldwide injunction blocking enforcement. A federal district recently denied Chevron's illegal attempt to freeze the assets of the plaintiffs. Chevron's latest attempt to lift an injunction blocking enforcement also has been denied. These defeats follow a January 3rd appellate court ruling in Ecuador confirming the validity of the trial court judgment.

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Chevron Tells Another Whopper To U.S. Appellate Court

2012-01-19T08:36:00.017-05:00

For the past two years Chevron has been trying to get U.S. judges to dictate to Ecuadorian judges all that is wrong with Ecuador's judiciary. In the process, Chevron has told so many lies it's impossible to keep up with them.

But, here's one that screams for attention.

On September 16th, 2011, Chevron lawyer Randy Mastro of Gibson Dunn responded to a question posed by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals about the company's previous efforts to convince an arbitration tribunal at The Hague to stop enforcement of the Ecuador court's $18 billion judgment against it (a much longer story). Here's what he said:

"I want to—I do want to be super clear about this. We have not attempted, and we will not attempt, to ask the ... tribunal to stop entry of a judgment. We do intend to fight enforcement, but we—and we do intend to fight in Lago Agrio against entry of a judgment, but we have not and we will not, if I left any doubt about it, ask the ... tribunal to stop entry of a judgment in Lago Agrio."

On January 3rd, 2012, the day the Ecuador appellate court upheld the $18 billion judgment, Chevron lawyer R. Doak Bishop of King & Spalding wrote to the arbitration tribunal, once again requesting help in stopping enforcement:

"Time is now of the essence to ensure that the Republic takes measures to prevent enforcement of the fraudulent Judgment... (Chevron) request(s) that the Republic of Ecuador inform the Tribunal...of the steps that it intends to take to ... prevent the Lago Agrio Judgment from becoming enforceable."

One assumes Mastro thinks that asking the tribunal to ask the Republic of Ecuador to stop the enforcement gives him a passing grade on the lie detector test.

We anticipate Mastro will be in front of the Second Circuit again very soon, explaining the distinction and arguing why three U.S. appellate court judges have jurisdiction over an Ecuadorian court -- in a super clear way.

Maybe then he can find the doubt he left behind.

Chevron lawyer Randy Mastro

Kerry Kennedy Speaks Out Against Chevron's Desperate Attacks

2012-01-16T21:55:00.013-05:00

Ecuadorians Call Kennedy Fierce Activist & Good Friend

Our most recent post about Chevron's turning victims into enemies was prescient. This weekend Chevron planted a story in a tabloid to disparage one of the Ecuadorians' most effective supporters, human rights activist Kerry Kennedy. It was a lie. Pure and simple.

Ms. Kennedy did not hesitate to fight back. In a Huffington Post piece, she did as other human rights activists have done in past struggles: She spoke truth to power.

She described what she and her three daughters saw when they visited the area in the Ecuadorian rainforest where Chevron explored for oil:

"We looked at pools of oily muck abandoned in the early 1970s that still drain toxic soup into nearby streams used for drinking water, fishing, and washing. We visited the home of an elderly woman who told us about the skin lesions that covered the bodies of her son, daughter, and grandson. She had built the family home on a field Texaco claimed to have cleaned. In fact, the oil giant had merely covered up the poisonous pond with four feet of dirt and a thin layer of grass. We smelled the fumes emanating from water Chevron claims is now clean. All this is part of the massive environmental damage and accompanying cancer clusters, lung disease, skin lesions and other injuries left behind by a U.S. multinational corporation."

"Chevron's irresponsible operational practices are now responsible for a catastrophe that has cost untold lives and destroyed an area of pristine rainforest the size of Rhode Island. Chevron lost the legal case in Ecuador, and a U.S. appellate court recently blocked efforts by the company to prevent enforcement of the judgment. The company is on its last legs after battling to deny the claims of indigenous groups for almost two decades since the case was filed in 1993.

"This helps explain why Chevron is now turning to personal attacks."

Pablo Fajardo, the Ecuadorian lawyer who has lead the successful litigation against Chevron, responded as well:

"Kerry Kennedy is a fierce human rights advocate and friend of thousands of Ecuadorians who have been victimized by Chevron's horrific contamination. She has stood behind the indigenous and farmer communities of the rainforest as they struggle to properly remediate one of the world's worst environmental catastrophes.

"The newspaper article is inaccurate. Such an accusation only proves Chevron's desperation. The oil giant has run out of legal options, with multiple defeats in both Ecuador and U.S. courts. Chevron's legal team now has turned to personal attacks against those like Kerry who speak out to defend the victims of the company's deliberate contamination of the soil and water in the Amazon rainforest."

"The best way to divert attention from your own crimes is to turn your victims into your enemy. Chevron hasn't hesitated. Company lawyers have hired spies to find out if people who are dying actually have cancer. They have called the people suffering in the rainforest liars, con men and frauds. It should come as no surprise that Chevron would resort to leaking misleading court documents to tabloid newspapers about our supporters."

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Chevron Tries To Make Its Victims The Enemy

2012-01-15T12:59:00.022-05:00

"This is how it's done. When people are sittin' on shit that you want, you make 'em your enemy. Then you're justified in taking it."

Jack Sully in the James Cameron movie Avatar, the U.S. Marine who works for an energy company but later sides with the indigenous peoples living on top of precious minerals company officials are willing to kill for.

Avatar's Jack Sully

"In thirty years of practice and as a former prosecutor, I've never seen a record so shocking of illegal and improper conduct .... (The Ecuadorians want) to try and shake down a settlement .... By their own words they intend to extort, to coerce ... to cause the maximum harm to Chevron."

Randy Mastro, the Chevron lawyer whose law firm is being paid hundreds of millions of dollars to take from Ecuadorian indigenous tribes an $18 billion judgment against the oil giant for the world's largest oil-related environmental disaster.

Chevron's Randy Mastro

For more information about Chevron's deliberate contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest, see here and here.

Crafty Craig, Chevron's Man In Ecuador, Up to No Good Again

2012-01-13T08:39:00.021-05:00

We reported not long ago that James Craig, Chevron's man in Ecuador, refused to deny to a Miami Herald reporter that his employer had offered the government of Ecuador a bribe to pressure the courts to dismiss the lawsuit against the oil giant.

Today we have an update on the latest crafty Craig move:

Craig escorted a New Yorker reporter to some of the contaminated oil pits in the rainforest. After accusing Ecuadorian indigenous people of "spiking" the water with fresh oil to give the appearance of contamination, he downplayed the thick, oily surface on top of the pits by explaining it was only a few inches thick. Later the reporter wrote:

"A few miles outside Lago Agrio, we stood on the lip of a waste pit, and Craig told me that the vile-looking residue on its surface was only a few inches thick. To illustrate this point, he picked up a rock and lobbed it into the pit. It landed, with a sickly thud, on the surface. “If we had a bigger rock . . .” he said, and threw a much larger one. It, too, failed to sink."

What also has failed to sink into Craig's head is that he sounds absolutely like the shrill he is when he declares: "Chevron has never identified a positive reading for hydrocarbon contamination" in the rainforest.

The New Yorker reporter also spent time viewing the pits with Ecuadorians. Here is what he had to say:

"During the plaintiffs’ portion of the tour, a local man named Donald Moncayo showed me around. Wearing white surgical gloves, he dug up a fistful of black mud and held it so that the sunlight caught the telltale blue-orange tint of petroleum. At one fetid pit in a jungle glade, he stepped gingerly onto the surface of the pool, where the solid matter in the produced water had congealed into a tarlike crust that was sturdy enough to support him. Smiling a little, Moncayo shifted his weight from one foot to the other, until the whole surface began to undulate beneath him. He looked like a kid on a waterbed. According to the plaintiffs, there are nearly a thousand of these pits in the Oriente, scattered across an area the size of Rhode Island.

Watching Moncayo, I had a sense of déjà vu. He is the regular master of ceremonies on the toxic tour; I had read accounts of his routine, and had seen it enacted, in nearly identical fashion, in “Crude,” the Berlinger documentary. But, if Moncayo’s cadences were rote, there was nothing feigned about his indignation. He led me down a steep ravine to a creek. In the gauzy light filtering through the canopy, the water, which was only a foot deep, looked crystalline. Moncayo drove a stick into the creek bed and churned the mud until the water grew clouded by sediment. At his encouragement, I skimmed my hand across the surface of the creek. My palm was coated in an acrid film."

If only Craig had had a bigger rock ...

Ecuador’s Appellate Court Upholds $18 Billion Judgment Against Chevron

2012-01-09T08:15:00.011-05:00

Leading Oil Industry Analyst Says Chevron Should Settle
Other Analyst Says Chevron Is Hiding Its Liabilities In Ecuador & Elsewhere

Based on an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence, Ecuador’s appellate court last week upheld the $18 billion judgment against Chevron for oil contamination in the country’s rainforest.

Immediately following the ruling, the oil industry’s leading analyst, Fadel Gheit, told the Financial Times the lawsuit isn’t going away and the oil giant should settle.

In a January 5th article in the Financial Times, Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer in New York, said Chevron should end its misery and pay $2 to $3 billion in a settlement.

He said, “When the dog keeps on barking and barking, eventually you have to throw it a bone.”

We assume Gheit meant no insult by referring to the Ecuadorian plaintiffs as a “dog.” Whether or not a $2 to $3 billion settlement would be enough remains to be seen.

Here and here is more information about the evidence against Chevron and the appellate court’s ruling.

Meanwhile, Chevron continues to withhold the extent of its financial liability not only in Ecuador but also in other parts of the world.

Socialfunds.com, a socially responsible investing web site, reports that Chevron refuses to deal with its terrible corporate governance history and human-rights problems.

Importantly, Chevron also isn’t coming clean to shareholders about its potential liability in pollution lawsuits against it.

Consider an incident in Burma, says Larry Dohrs of Newground Social Investment, a socially responsible money manager. Just before Chevron acquired Unocal in 2005, 13 Burmese plaintiffs won an out-of-court settlement against Unocal that was reputed to be $2.5 million per plaintiff.

And, there may be 5,000 more Burmese plaintiffs out there, Dohrs says. Were they to bring a class-action suit, damages could run into the billions of dollars.

However, Dohrs writes, “even the potential amount of that claim pales,” compared to Chevron's liability in Ecuador, with the $18 billion judgment staring it in the face. Chevron dumped billions of gallons of waste byproduct and oil into the water and soil and burned hundreds of millions of cubic feet of gas and waste oil into the atmosphere.

Chevron, socialfunds.com reports, tells investors it will ultimately prevail and there’s nothing to worry about.   

That doesn’t add up for the critics. “To continue to say there is no merit and we're not going to end up paying anything is a completely unrealistic approach for management," Dohrs said. "But that continues to be the story they tell shareholders. We're very worried that that's not accurate."   

As evidence, Dohrs cites Chevron Deputy Comptroller Rex Mitchell, who said in a court affidavit if plaintiffs seized company assets to pay damages, it “would disrupt Chevron's supply chain and operations” and “damage Chevron's business reputation as a reliable supplier.”   

Mitchell's statement was revealed last year in a report by Simon Billenness and Sandford Lewis.

As a result, Trillium Asset Management, a $1 billion asset management firm, asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in May to review "whether Chevron has appropriately disclosed to shareholders the scope and magnitude of financial and operational risk from a recent adverse legal judgment in Ecuador."  

Now Chevron faces fines and lawsuits from a November spill off the coast of Brazil that could run to additional billions of dollars and criminal prosecutions.

When is Chevron going to come clean environmentally? And when is it going to come clean with its shareholders?

Gibson Dunn: Fewer Options But Bigger Bills for Chevron in Ecuador Case

2012-01-05T11:12:00.004-05:00

Paul Paz y Mino of Amazon Watch writes an excellent blog on Huffington Post, called How Lawyer Arrogance Imperils Chevron Shareholders in Ecuador.

He details the “monumental mistakes” made in the Ecuador contamination case by Gibson Dunn, the Chevron law firm that pushed out the company’s other law firm Jones Day from being the lead on the lawsuit about two years ago. Paz y Mino argues the firm’s mistakes – specifically those of lead partner Randy Mastro – have “increasingly imperiled” Chevron shareholders.

This week the Ecuador appellate court upheld the trial court’s $18 billion judgment. If Chevron does not post a bond in its final appeal, the Ecuadorians can begin to enforce by asking courts in other countries to seize Chevron’s assets. (Chevron has none in Ecuador and has refused to pay the judgment.)

Gibson Dunn is quickly running out of legal options, but it is a master at invoicing for the 60 or so lawyers working on the case. In all, Chevron is paying for close to 500 lawyers and legal assistants fighting five indigenous groups in some of the poorest regions of the world.

We ask the same question one of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals judges asked before throwing out Gibson Dunn’s efforts to block enforcement: Do Chevron’s shareholders understand how much money is being spent on this lawsuit?

Chevron's Silence Screams Guilt

2011-12-30T01:25:00.012-05:00

Again Oil Giant Fails to Defend Misconduct in Ecuador Case

Once again, Chevron's silence tells us more about the company's fraudulent misconduct in Ecuador than do its whitewashed

public statements.

After refusing to answer questions about offering what amounts to a $1 billion bribe to the government of Ecuador to help the company kill the $18 billion lawsuit, Chevron's lawyers refused to address allegations of doctoring a "Judicial Inspection Playbook" to hide its fraudulent testing practices at contaminated well sites during the trial. See this press release for details about the playbook, which Chevron used to instruct its testers how to collect soil and water samples.

In a court brief filed with the Southern District Court of New York in a related matter, Chevron refused to address the Ecuadorians' charges that its environmental consulting firm, GSI Environmental, sanitized the playbook document before giving it to two academic experts who later wrote a report lauding the oil giant's sampling protocol. The two experts are Dr. Pedro J. Alvarez currently the chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, and Dr. Douglas Mackay, an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis.

GSI removed all directives ordering the testers to collect only "clean" samples from spots identified during "pre-inspections" that took place before the official judicial inspections. They also removed comments about the local residents drinking, cooking and bathing with water from the nearby streams and rivers. See this document that compares the original playbook with the altered one.

Not surprisingly, Chevron regularly found no contamination at sites that looked like this.

If there's an explanation for this whitewash, we're betting the two academic experts would like to know to ensure their integrity doesn't come into question.

But Chevron is suddenly very quiet.

Crafty Craig Doesn’t Deny Chevron’s Bribe Offer to Ecuador to Make Lawsuit Disappear

2011-12-23T14:31:00.005-05:00

Yesterday a Miami Herald reporter asked James Craig, Chevron’s man in Ecuador, about reports that the oil giant has, in essence, offered a $1 billion bribe to Ecuador’s government to kill the $18 billion lawsuit brought by indigenous tribes.

Instead of immediately denying the bribe, Craig demurred and changed the subject – a classic PR move when you have something to hide.

The Miami Herald reported: “Chevron Spokesman James Craig would not address the issue directly, but said the company ‘takes no pleasure in litigation and has tried to resolve this case in the past. However, it is difficult to negotiate with perpetrators of fraud.’”

Craig must have forgotten that Chevron has accused everybody in Ecuador of fraud, including President Correa and some of the government officials Chevron met with to “negotiate” a $500 million “donation” to the Yasuni environmental project and another $500 million “donation” for contamination cleanup.

Read the entire story HERE

Chevron Tries To Buy A Way Out Of $18 Billion Liability In Ecuador

2011-12-22T18:46:00.005-05:00

Blog About Cozy Relationship Between Chevron and Government Appointee Creates Stir in Ecuador

Looks like Chevron is trying to buy its way out of the $18 billion liability it faces in Ecuador. Mitch Anderson of Amazon Watch writes in Huffington Post about Chevron's latest scam to escape justice. Below is his blog, Crude Politics: Is Chevron Involved in a Billion Dollar Bait-and-Switch in Ecuador. Anderson writes that Chevron is trying to work its connections with certain rogue officials in Ecuador's government as a way to escape its $18 billion liability for polluting the country's rainforest. We are investigating the information in the blog and will report any findings in the coming days.

Crude Politics: Is Chevron Involved in a Billion Dollar Bait-and-Switch in Ecuador?

As the Yasuni-ITT Initiative deadline approaches, did its chief negotiator make a deal with the devil?

With Chevron running out of legal options in its attempt to avoid its $18 billion liability in Ecuador over egregious environmental crimes and rights abuses, the company may have turned to its longtime government insider Ivonne Baki to help it out of a multibillion dollar jam, taking corporate malfeasance and greenwashing to a whole new level.

Baki is the head of Ecuador's Yasuni-ITT Initiative, the pioneer proposal that has captured the world's imagination by seeking to keep close to one billion barrels of crude permanently underground in exchange for payment. The ITT fields (Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini) sit underneath the Yasuni National Park, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve widely considered to be one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet. The Park is also home to two nomadic indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation.

President Rafael Correa set Dec. 31, 2011 as the deadline to obtain $100 million -- a down payment that would give the government more time to raise the $3.6 billion ($350 million annually over 10 years) it needs to offset forgone revenues for leaving the oil untouched. If the money isn't raised, drilling would ensue.

But there hasn't exactly been a stampede of donors knocking down Ecuador's door. The government has fought an uphill battle since the proposal's inception in 2007. In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Baki admitted that the world financial crisis has taken a toll on donor government enthusiasm. Additional challenges to Yasuni fundraising have included lingering concerns about Ecuador's history of political instability, the proposal's initial lack of political and financial guarantees, and a reluctance from industrialized countries to donate to forest protection without receiving carbon offset credits.

With the clock ticking -- and both the proposal's and Baki's future on the line -- Baki told the Financial Times in a Nov. 28 article that the Initiative donation total was $70 million, the bulk of which was a $35 million debt cancellation deal with Italy. She went on to declare that, "I think in the next month we are going to have more than $100 million."

However, the Yasuni Trust Fund administered by UNDP shows a mere $2 million in actual funds. Unfazed, Baki affirmed to the Miami Herald and several Spanish language newspapers on Dec. 5 that the $100 million mark had been met, saying an "appeal for private sector donations, has been paying off." Another article describes the unnamed private donations as "flooding in." Correa has yet to make an official announcement on the fate of the proposal and whether the fundraising goal has indeed been met.

If one takes Ms. Baki at her word that $70 million is at least pledged (though not physically in the bank), the question is: where did the additional $30 million come from in a week's time?

Sources close to the project have confirmed that meetings between Baki and Chevron regarding a possible "donation" to the Yasuni-ITT initiative have occurred, according to environmental organization Amazon Watch, who has been working for over a decade to hold Chevron accountable for a massive environmental disaster in Ecuador. Word on the street is that Chevron authorized Baki to propose the idea of a $500 million "donation" to the initiative in exchange for quashing the case. Though a very handsome quid pro quo, it's a drop in the bucket if this subterfuge helps the company thwart the $18 billion legal case.

Sound far-fetched? This April 2008 cable courtesy of Wikileaks between the U.S. Ambassador in Quito and the State Department shows that Chevron has been plotting something similar for years:

"Meanwhile, Chevron had begun to quietly explore with senior GOE officials whether it could implement a series of social projects in the concession area in exchange for GOE support for ending the case, but now that the expert has released a huge estimate for alleged damage, it might be hard for the GOE to go that route, even if it has the ability to bring the case to a close."

"Given Chevron's toxic legacy and the debt it owes the people and rainforests of Ecuador, the fact that this 'bribe' is even on the table is an aberration of justice," said Kevin Koenig, Ecuador program coordinator for Amazon Watch. "This is a multi-billion dollar bait and switch, it's illegal, and can't be allowed. We're calling on Ms. Baki to disclose any meetings held between herself and Chevron, the terms and conditions of any offer from the company, and full disclosure of all private sector donations."

A look back at Baki's history reveals a long list of favors for Chevron while she held official roles within the Ecuadorian government:

• In 1998, as Ecuador's Ambassador to the United States under the rightist government of Jamil Mahuad, she signed an official letter to a U.S. federal judge in New York seeking dismissal of the environmental lawsuit against Chevron.
• Throughout 2004, Baki, then serving as Ecuador's Trade Minister, helped organize and participated in several meetings between Chevron and high level Ecuadorian officials -- including the Attorney General -- which sought strategies to end the case, according to discovery documents produced recently in the United States. During one of those meetings, rainforest residents staged a sit-in in her offices and demanded she stop efforts to undermine the legal case against the company.
• In 2008, Baki, then serving as president of the Andean Parliament, organized and participated in a meeting with Chevron and Gustavo Larrea, Coordinating Minister for Internal and External Security who at the time was an influential member of Correa's Cabinet. The contact led to several other meetings between Chevron and Larrea in Ecuador and Washington, DC.
• Baki also has been active in Chevron's lobbying efforts in the United States to cancel U.S. trade preferences for the country in retaliation for the lawsuit. A cancellation of the preferences would cost Ecuador upwards of 300,000 jobs, according to Ecuador's government.

"We are not about to give Chevron a get-out-of-jail-free card by 'donating' to the Yasuni," said Esperanza Martinez, a founder of Accion Ecologica, a leading Ecuador environmental organization and key backer of the project. "Not only would such a donation violate the rights of thousands of Ecuadorians who are victims of Chevron's misconduct, it would also violate the very spirit of the initiative."

"In short, we are not interested in Chevron's blood money," she added.

Chevron itself has been accused of numerous acts of corruption in its attempt to sabotage the case. These include: lying about the results of a fraudulent remediation in the 1990s to secure a government release; fabricating evidence during the trial to minimize evidence of contamination; using a hidden video recorder to try to entrap a judge who Chevron thought would rule against it; threatening judges with jail time if they failed to grant Chevron's motions to delay the trial; and permitting the lawyers for the plaintiffs to be victimized by death threats and mysterious robberies of their offices.

The case is currently on appeal in Ecuador after a judge ruled against the company on Feb. 14, 2011 for up to $18 billion. Because Chevron has refused to respect the judgment, the rainforest communities are being forced to prepare legal actions against Chevron's assets in the dozens of countries around the world where the oil giant does business.

For years, Chevron has publicly lambasted the Ecuadorian government with false accusations of siding with the plaintiffs in the case. In actuality, it appears that Chevron, once again with Baki's help, is behind the scenes secretly pressuring government officials to intervene on its behalf to kill the lawsuit.

Given Ms. Baki's long standing ties to Chevron and her previous efforts to help the company quash the Aguinda v. Chevron litigation or end run it entirely, it appears she again could be using her position to help Chevron evade its liability in Ecuador -- at the expense of justice, her own people, and the potentially historic Yasuni proposal.

Follow Mitch Anderson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kukoosh

Chevron’s Gibson Dunn Nailed for Unethical Litigation Tactics In Oregon

2011-12-08T14:16:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we reported that a U.S. federal judge in Oregon sanctioned Chevron's law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher for harassment of a witness in its campaign to help Chevron evade an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador for massive oil contamination. See here, here and here.

The affidavit, submitted by Oregon lawyer Charles M. Tebbutt outlining these abusive and harassing tactics by a team of Gibson Dunn lawyers, is vivid and disturbing. The level of arrogance of the oil giant's lawyers is just astounding.

Gibson Dunn of course is famous for marketing itself as a master of the dark art of conducting "rescue operations" for clients in trouble. Their lawyers openly state that if the law is in the way, they will try to change it or work around it. In the Chevron case and others, that can mean crossing the ethical line.

Buyer beware: Gibson Dunn's litigation tactics often create more problems for its clients than they solve. Gibson Dunn came into the Ecuador case in 2009; since then, Chevron has been hit with an $18 billion judgment for environmental contamination, been sanctioned by various courts, and now faces even more problems in the coming months as the Ecuadorian plaintiffs position themselves to lawfully seize company assets around the world. On Gibson Dunn's advice, Chevron has gone rogue in Ecuador.

What government is going to want to do business with an oil company that creates open conflict with the governments of oil-producing nations?

A recent argument before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York by Gibson Dunn lawyer Randy Mastro is a case in point in how the Gibson Dunn tactics are backfiring. Mastro took a beating from the panel of judges as they chuckled about his theory that a New York court has jurisdiction to block enforcement of an Ecuadorian judgment in other countries.

Mastro argued the case on a Friday; the next Monday, Chevron's attempt to seek a worldwide injunction blocking enforcement was stayed. It probably didn't help that Mastro interrupted the presiding judge repeatedly, forcing another member of the panel to suggest he sit down.

In 2010, a federal court in Colorado found that Gibson Dunn lawyer Andrew Neumann asked several harassing questions of a technical expert for the plaintiffs in the Ecuador case.

In 2009, Chevron was again fined by a California judge for filing a frivolous lawsuit against Cristobal Bonifaz, a former lawyer for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs. That lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice.

The same Gibson Dunn practice group used by Chevron in the Ecuador case also was hit recently with sanctions from a California judge for filing a frivolous lawsuit to suppress the free speech rights of a filmmaker who made a documentary about how pesticides used by Dole in Central America have poisoned banana workers. Dole is a Gibson Dunn client.

In 2003, the firm was fined a shocking $20 million in Montana for harassing an art expert for failing to raise the appraisal value of a forged painting owned by a firm client. The Montana Supreme Court said Gibson Dunn used "legal thuggery" and acted with "actual malice" in the case.

In legal trouble and partial to thuggery and malice? Do like Chevron and call Gibson Dunn.

U.S. Embassy Finally Lifts A Finger to Help Fix Rainforest Destroyed by American Oil Company Chevron

2011-12-05T15:21:00.007-05:00

In a surprising turn of events given the U.S. Embassy long and sordid history in Ecuador, our nation’s ambassador there has decided to support a joint effort by Ecuadorians and The Nature Conservancy to preserve the rainforest where the Cofan indigenous group lives. It's about time. See the Embassy’s press statement here.

In 1993, a year after Chevron abandoned its operations in Ecuador, a group of Ecuadorian indigenous groups and farmer communities sued the company for damages in U.S. federal court. Chevron was granted its request that the trial be held in Ecuador. Earlier this year, that move backfired when the Ecuadorians won a historic $18 billion judgment. See here.

Among the groups suing Chevron was the Cofan, who have seen their population drop from 15,000 to a few hundred brave souls due to the devastating effects of Chevron's pollution. But rather than help the Cofan, the U.S. Embassy historically has tried to do all it could to help Chevron avoid accountability for its devastating abuses.

Chevron has fought the Cofan and other indigenous groups every step of the way and promises to never pay the Ecuador court judgment even though Chevron promised to abide by any judgment out of that country's courts as a condition of the dismissal of the case from U.S. federal court.

Earlier this year, Wikileaks disclosed U.S. Embassy cables that suggest Chevron conspired with U.S. Embassy officials in Ecuador to obstruct the lawsuit brought by the Cofan and their allies. See this Mother Jones article for the eye-opening details of the cozy relationship Chevron had with embassy and former embassy officials.

A quick recap of the Wikileaks cables (see here, here, here and here) shows that Chevron left no stone unturned in its efforts to undermine the trial:

One of the cables, written by U.S. Ambassador Linda Jewell in April of 2008, revealed that Chevron convinced Jewell to go to bat for two Chevron lawyers who faced a criminal investigation for signing off in 1998 on a sham remediation of oil sites in exchange for a government release from liability. Jewell wrote the embassy "will consider how it can help Chevron resolve" the case, and that she contacted a former Supreme Court President of Ecuador as part of that strategy.

Linda Jewell

U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador

Chevron tipped off U.S. embassy officials that during the ongoing trial it had offered to set up "social projects" in the Amazon in exchange for GOE [Government of Ecuador] support for ending the case.

In August 2009, Chevron lawyer Ricardo Reis Veiga called the then-U.S. ambassador to provide a "heads up" that the company was releasing secret videotapes taken by Chevron contractor Diego Borja that the company claimed implicated the judge in a bribery scandal. The move backfired after Borja later admitted Chevron paid him for his work in trying to entrap the judge, and that the tapes did not actually show a bribe.

Ambassador Jewell appeared to unabashedly adopt Chevron's worldview of the hotly disputed legal case. She wrote that Chevron was not liable for the contamination due to a government release when that very issue was being litigated before the Ecuador court. Eventually, Chevron lost that argument.

Another cable from March of 2006, written by Charge d'Affairs Jefferson Brown, said that Chevron executive Jamie Varela told embassy officials that "Chevron had not had any real complaints about the judge" or the "administration of the case" in Lago Agrio. Chevron later argued before various U.S. courts that Ecuador's judicial system was unfair at that time, contradicting these private statements to the embassy.

Varela also tipped off Brown that Chevron was planning to file an international arbitration case against the Government of Ecuador in a move to gain leverage over the Lago Agrio case, according to the cables. Varela also indicated that Chevron would not publicly disclose the filing for fear the plaintiffs would use it against the company.

Jefferson Brown

Brown also wrote that U.S. embassy officials were "surprised" that Varela did not ask for U.S. government "intervention in the case" to help Chevron, as had other Chevron officials. Nevertheless, Brown wrote that the embassy "will continue to raise the [Chevron] matter with [Ecuador's government] when we discuss other commercial disputes" but he also concluded that Chevron's complaints were "being fairly and adequately addressed in the courts or in arbitration and require no direct [U.S. government] action at this time."

The U.S. embassy in Ecuador might want to explain why it was working to undermine the rule of law in Ecuador to help an American company that was committing human rights abuses.

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

2011-12-03T18:29:00.010-05:00

Banner Blares From Circling Airplane:

Clean Up Toxic Mess In Ecuador

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.

A banner trailing the plane said: "Chevron CEO Watson: Clean Up Your Toxic Mess In Ecuador". The environmental groups Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and Amazon Watch sponsored the banner.

"Chevron has spent the last 18 years waging unprecedented public relations and legal campaigns to avoid dealing with the environmental and public health catastrophe it left in the Amazon rainforest," said Ginger Cassady, a RAN campaign official.

"Today we're challenging Chevron to clean more than its public image and repair the toxic legacy it left in Ecuador."

An Ecuador court earlier this year found Chevron liable for dumping billions of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest, decimating indigenous groups and causing an outbreak of cancer and other oil-related diseases in an area roughly the size of Rhode Island.

Chevron operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992 under the Texaco brand.

"We want Mr. Watson and his golfing friends to know that we hold him accountable for the refusal of the company to take responsibility for the world's worst oil-related disaster," said Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for dozens of rainforest communities suing Chevron in Ecuador.

The public scolding of Watson by RAN and Amazon Watch comes on the heels of damning statements from another group of Latin Americans -- government officials in Brazil, home to one of the most highly-prized offshore oil fields in the world. After Chevron spilled an estimated 110,000 gallons of pure crude into the Atlantic Ocean offshore the state of Rio, Brazilian officials were outraged by Chevron executives there who initially lied about the origin of the spill, low-balled the number of barrels released into the ocean and told regulators the damage was contained when it wasn’t. See here.

The Brazilians are threatening to fine Chevron for up to $145 million and imprison some of its executives over their efforts to cover up the extent of the spill.

To make matters even worse for Watson, his company was named last week the “most toxic” energy company of 2011 by AlterNet, a prestigious U.S.-based online magazine that closely tracks environmental issues. See here and here.

Chevron's enormous Ecuador liability is of special concern to Watson because he is the person ultimately responsible for the failure of Chevron to abide by an Ecuador court order that the company pay for a clean-up. He also has faced accusations the he suffers from a conflict of interest for failing to properly vet Texaco for the Ecuador liability when Chevron bought its rival in 2001.

If the judgment in Ecuador is upheld on appeal, the Ecuadorians will lawfully attempt to seize Chevron's assets in countries around the world where it operates. Chevron sold off its assets in Ecuador several years ago in an effort to evade its legal responsibilities in the South American nation, said Hinton.

Aside from Woods, those playing in the invitation-only golf tournament include luminaries such as former Masters champion Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar, the leading money winner on the PGA tour in 2010.

Chevron Blogger Dumped by San Francisco Chronicle for Ethics Lapse

2011-11-21T09:52:00.003-05:00

Zennie Among Several Paid By Chevron To Fake Positive News Coverage

The San Francisco Chronicle has finally thrown blogger Zennie Abraham off of its website City Brights after his ties to a Chevron operative were disclosed.

Recently, The Chevron Pit, exposed Zennie and his connections to Sam Singer, a Chevron media consultant based in San Francisco. Singer clearly pays Zennie to write positively about many of his clients, including Chevron. See this post here. Yet, Zennie never disclosed that he was paid to shill for Singer's clients.

The Chronicle’s decision to take a more ethical look and ultimately terminate Zennie should be applauded. Considering that Chevron often uses underhanded methods to buy positive media, the hometown newspaper of the San Ramon-based company is no longer being used as an unwitting instrument of the oil giant.

Chevron has a long and sordid history with writers like Zennie who pretend to be something they are not, so Chevron can circulate its deceptions about the company’s intentional contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest.

Given the oil giant’s horrific record of contamination in both Ecuador and the U.S, paying for good news is about the only way for Chevron to get any. This year an Ecuador court awarded a group of indigenous tribes $18 billion for damages related to oil contamination left by Chevron in the rainforest. Several months later, a U.S. court denied efforts by Chevron to avoid paying the judgment.

Chevron, though, sees itself above the law of the land and doesn’t hesitate to resort to such tactics as:

Allowing the spouse of a Chevron employee to fake being an independent journalist so he could attack the legal case of the Ecuadorians.

Pro-Chevron blogger, Alex Thorne, tried to pass himself off as a legitimate journalist by emailing questions to environmental groups about their funding of the San Francisco-based Amazon Watch, a supporter of the Ecuadorians. Thorne claimed to be working on an “article” for a publication that he refused to specify. He also did not use his last name in the email, signing it only as “Alex.” The e-mails then asked the funders “if it is time” to “reevaluate” their support for Amazon Watch in light of Chevron’s phony charges of fraud in the lawsuit.

But Thorne failed to acknowledge two major points in his emails to the environmental groups. First, he is married to Kristen Thorne, Chevron’s senior policy advisor on environment and energy issues. Second, he has operated a pro-Chevron website critical of the leaders of the Ecuador lawsuit against Chevron.

After these facts came to light, Thorne closed down his blog.

Trying to pay a journalist to spy on the Ecuadorians.

In 2010, Chevron tried to pay a real journalist $20,000 to spy on sick Ecuadorians to determine if they really had illnesses. Chevron wanted the reporter, Mary Cuddehe, to lie to the Ecuadorians saying she wanted an “interview” about their medical condition when really she would be reporting back to Chevron. Recruited by Kroll – a private investigative firm hired by Chevron – Cuddehe considered the offer. Her conscious got the best of her, though. She turned Chevron down and then wrote about the whole thing, exposing Chevron’s deception.

Faking a television newscast sympathetic to the company.

In 2009 when Chevron learned that a potentially damaging report about the company’s oil contamination in the Amazon rain forest was being prepared by 60 Minutes Chevron executives hired former CNN correspondent, Gene Randall, to produce a misleading report espousing solely Chevron’s point of view but appearing to be objective.

In the video produced by Chevron, Randall, interviewed Chevron’s managers and consultants but completely ignored the arguments of the plaintiffs. The fake news report ends with the deceptive voiceover “Gene Randall reporting.”

The “news cast” remains on Chevron’s web site and appears in Google searches.

As for Zennie, we can only hope that one day he’ll get a real job.

Chevron Faces Another Conflict With Key Latin American Country

2011-11-18T11:17:00.004-05:00

Brazil Oil Spill Raises Questions About Company’s Respect For Local Laws

Chevron faces yet another conflict with a key Latin American country where it has a sizable investment – Brazil Chevron is currently embroiled in a huge conflict in the largest country in South America related to a huge oil spill off the coast near Rio de Janeiro. If Chevron’s flouting of local laws in Brazil is as flagrant as it has been in Ecuador, then it could lead to open warfare between Chevron and two Latin American countries.

What's happening in Brazil sounds very similar to what happened in Ecuador, where the company is attempting to evade an $18 billion judgment for massive oil contamination in the rainforest that has cost thousands of lives and devastated an area roughly the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

In Brazil, the Federal Police is investigating Chevron’s statements about the amount of oil spilled, the cause of the spill and the containment. Other government officials and environmentalists are questioning Chevron’s estimates. Also, it appears the spill has not been contained, even though Chevron said it had been. In other words, many Brazilians believe Chevron is lying to them.

Fabio Scliar of the Brazilian Federal Police said the information provided by Chevron did not match the visual evidence at the site. "Initially, the reports do not correspond to reality," said Scliar. "I want to understand what's happening."

Brazil’s Energy Minister Edison Lobao said: “If Chevron is not doing what it should (to contain the spill) it will be severely punished.”

In Ecuador, Chevron’s U.S. executives have declared political warfare on Ecuador's government as part of a strategy to discredit the $18 billion judgment for the cleanup of massive oil contamination left behind two decades ago -- one that experts believe dwarfs the size of BP's Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil giant is paying several U.S. corporate law firms, lobbyists and public relations gurus hundreds of millions of dollars to foment open conflict with Ecuador's government as part of a global strategy to escape justice. It has created the unusual specter of a major American oil company deliberately provoking a diplomatic row with an oil-producing Latin American country that is a key U.S. trading partner.

The stepped-up political strategy comes at a time when Chevron's legal prospects in the case, which is being heard in the Amazon town of Lago Agrio, have considerably weakened. Ecuadorian citizens originally filed the claims in 1993 in New York but a U.S. judge shifted the case to Ecuador in 2002 at Chevron's request. At the time, Chevron heaped lavish praise on Ecuador's court system. When evidence began to show the extent of the contamination, Chevron declared it would never pay a damage award.

In September, a U.S. appeals court blocked Chevron from using an injunction from a U.S. trial judge to enjoin enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment in any of the dozens of countries where the oil giant operates. Separately, the Ecuador court in February found Chevron liable and imposed $18 billion in damages, which the plaintiffs are appealing as too low.

In any event, the message from Ecuador is simple -- when it comes to Chevron, Brazil should beware.

Chevron Fights Like Mad to Block Release of Documents

2011-10-31T15:34:00.005-04:00

Court Begins to Question Oil Giant's Double Standard When It Comes to Disclosure of Case Files

If you want an example of how a large oil company can mock court orders and get away with it, look no further than Chevron's behavior in the Ecuador environmental case where the company faces an $18 billion liability and allegations that it engaged in criminal misconduct to undermine a trial.See here and here.

The bottom line: due to a series of discovery decisions by a U.S. federal judge, who is clearly biased against the Ecuadorians, Chevron has almost the entire case file of the Ecuadorian's legal team while the Ecuadorians and their lawyers have almost none of Chevron's documents. There is simply no level playing field in the case.

Reporters covering the matter have completely missed the story of Chevron's gamesmanship before U.S. Judges. This gamesmanship makes it clear that Chevron will do anything to evade what is the largest court judgment in history for environmental damage. (See here)

One example vividly illustrates Chevron's maneuvering. For more than a year, the Ecuadorians have been fighting to obtain thousands of documents related to Diego Borja, the Chevron operative who secretly videotaped himself and his colleague Wayne Hansen offering a bribe to be given to the presiding judge in Ecuador as a way to sabotage the proceedings. Borja's own lawyer has admitted publicly that his client faces criminal liability in the U.S. and Ecuador for his actions. Borja has admitted Chevron has paid him vast sums of money -- including covering his U.S. income taxes -- for not working while living in the U.S. out of reach of journalists and investigative authorities.

When it comes to seeking Chevron's documents, the Ecuadorians have been met with nothing but obstructionism from Chevron's army of lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, King & Spalding, Jones Day, Boies Schiller & Flexner, and Arguedes Cassman & Headley. (Yes, you read that correctly -- Chevron has hired five of the most powerful corporate and criminal defense firms in America to defend its environmental dumping in Ecuador. The Gibson Dunn firm recently disclosed it has at least 75 lawyers working on the case, meaning it is probably is billing the oil giant well over $100 million annually to get it off the hook for human rights violations in Ecuador.)

Consider the radically different ways U.S. courts have treated Chevron's requests for discovery, as compared to those made by the Ecuadorians.

In federal court in New York, the battle was fast and furious for release of privileged documents belonging to the Ecuadorians when Chevron wanted them. Thanks to a "technicality" ginned up by federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who insulted the Ecuadorians from the bench by claiming their lawsuit was imaginary, Chevron collected practically every document and email written about the 18-year-old case from their longtime lawyer Steven Donziger.

Kaplan prevented Donziger from arguing why particular documents were protected by privilege. Instead, he ordered Donziger to truck over his entire stash of tens of thousands of emails and internal memos to Chevron's law offices on the grounds his privilege log was turned in “late”. In fact, his log was prepared by numerous lawyers working furiously for weeks to list each of his thousands of documents, and it was clearly prepared in a reasonable amount of time (about four weeks after Kaplan denied Donziger's motion to quash the subpoena).

Using Judge Kaplan as its ally, Chevron also obtained documents from case interns, other lawyers for the Ecuadorians, consultants, financial advisors, and financial supporters -- over 1 million documents in all, according to legal briefs.

Chevron's discovery orgy was abruptly shut down in September by the federal appeals court in New York, which stayed the underlying legal proceeding before Kaplan where Chevron was seeking an unprecedented (and probably illegal) worldwide injunction barring enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment. Without that case, Chevron lost the legal mechanism it was using to continue its U.S. discovery odyssey. Without the injunction, Chevron also now finds itself in a bigger jam now than when Kaplan was allowed to run wild on its behalf.

Interestingly, a few days before that appellate ruling staying Kaplan's proceeding, Chevron's double standard was revealed in a little-noticed decision by New York Magistrate Judge James Francis IV. Francis had this to say about Chevron's privilege logs (which lists Chevron's documents related to the litigation that the company is trying to prevent from being turned over to the Ecuadorians):

“(The review) reveals the categorization process engaged in by Chevron obscures rather than illuminates (emphasis added) the nature of the materials withheld….”

“Distressingly, Chevron has taken a view of its own discovery responsibilities sharply different from the obligations it seeks to impose on the (Ecuadorians) …. Chevron was highly critical of (the Ecuadorians’) privilege log descriptions that turn out to have been far more detailed (emphasis added) than Chevron's own.”

In the meantime, the wheels of justice have turned much more slowly in legal proceedings initiated by the Ecuadorians in California seeking Chevron's documents related to the Borja corruption scandal. See here.

Despite more than a year’s worth of motions filed by the Ecuadorians and granted by the court to compel Chevron and Borja to hand over documents, only a handful of largely irrelevant documents have actually been produced. With the legal action in New York dormant, Chevron is fighting even harder in California to stop anyone from discovering the depths to which the company sank with Borja in Ecuador. If Borja has potential criminal liability for trying to sabotage the proceedings in Ecuador, what does that say about Chevron's liability given that Borja was working for Chevron at the time and is now a “kept man” by the oil company in the U.S.? That's the question Chevron does not want answered.

Chevron has been trying ever since to cover up its involvement, even lying to the public about key facts in a press release -- such as characterizing Borja as a "Good Samaritan", failing to disclose that his sidekick Wayne Hansen (who helped him shoot the videos) was a convicted drug felon, or hiding the fact the pair met with Chevron lawyers as the scheme was unfolding.

Arguing for a balanced playing field for the Ecuadorians, attorney Jim Tyrrell of Patton Boggs recently asked a California magistrate judge to force Chevron, Borja and a private investigative firm paid by Chevron to stop hiding behind their privilege logs.

“… Respectfully, what we get back from Chevron and their allies is garbage. We can't tell what those privilege logs mean,” argued Tyrrell before Magistrate Judge Nathanial Cousins, who is expected to rule soon.

“Chevron has every one of my lead lawyers' documents for 18 years," Tyrell said. "We're quibbling over one here or there. That's not a level playing field, and that's not what justice is about.

“If anybody deserves a press account as to their conduct with respect to fraud, it isn't my side. It's the folks, respectfully, at Chevron.”

We are waiting to see if Magistrate Judge Cousins stands up to Chevron and its army of lawyers. He should allow a full airing of the facts related to this scandal.

Chevron’s Favorite Blogger, Zennie Abraham:

2011-10-26T14:08:00.000-04:00

Is He On The Chevron Payroll Or Just A Punk for Corporate Interests?  Should The San Francisco Chronicle Disclose Zennie’s Conflict of Interest?

Zennie Abraham, a San Francisco-based blogger who has been quick to judge other people’s “ethics” around seemingly unrelated controversies, may have his own ethical, if not, legal problems, a source tells The Chevron Pit.

 

Zennie Abraham

Out of respect for the source’s wishes, we won’t repeat the details of his problems now but, when made public, they may end Zennie’s bizarre association with many Bay Area companies that he defends and praises in his online rants, including the country’s third largest corporation, Chevron.

 Chevron has a long and sordid history with writers, like Zennie, pretending to be something they are not so Chevron can circulate its deceptions about the company’s intentional contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest. Just recently a pro-Chevron blogger, Alex Thorne, tried to pass himself off as a serious journalist by emailing pro-environment groups questions about their funding. He recently closed down his blog because of the controversy. And, then there was the classic Chevron stunt of trying to pay a real journalist $20,000 to spy on sick Ecuadorians to determine if they really had illnesses. She declined and then wrote about it! And, we can’t forget Chevron’s hiring a former CNN anchor to fake a newscast sympathetic to the company.

 As for Zennie, he has been throwing Google bombs our way for years. His blogs are predictable and usually worth ignoring.

 But, our source’s latest bit of news motivated us to take a closer look at Zennie’s blogs, which on the surface appear to be this random selection of Bay Area controversies mixed in with sports news and inappropriate videos of women.

 After about 15 minutes of playing mix and match online, it wasn’t hard to figure out the common denominator: Sam Singer.

 Sam Singer, a San Francisco public relations executive, promotes himself as “The Fixer” and lists a number of corporate clients on his web site that he has “fixed” things for, including Chevron and, oddly enough, The San Francisco Chronicle which, by the way, runs Zennie’s blog regularly on its City Brights site.
 

Sam Singer

Singer came to our attention in 2008 when Chevron retained him to smear the highly-respected Goldman Foundation and its award of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize to Luis Yanza and Pablo Fajardo, two Ecuadorian leaders in the effort to cleanup the contamination that Chevron left behind in the rainforest.

 For the most part, Singer didn’t have much luck with his smear campaign, but Zennie came to his rescue scoring critical blogs about the two award-winning Ecuadorians and many other blogs related to their lawsuit against Chevron.

 Zennie has come to Singer’s rescue of his corporate clients many times before and since:

Singer also represents the California Pacific Medical Center. Zennie writes favorably about the California Pacific Medical Center.

 Singer also represents Page Mill Properties. Zennie writes favorably about Page Mill Properties.

 Singer also represents Recology. Zennie writes favorably of Recology.

 Singer also represents Calpine. Zennie writes favorably of Calpine.

 We quickly grew weary, mixing and matching Singer’s client list with Zennie’s blogs, but you get the picture.

 Zennie disavows any financial relationship with Singer or his clients, saying he simply believes in these companies’ positions. As you might have guessed by now, we don’t believe him.

 We are not the only ones either. San Francisco’s alternative online newspaper, Beyond Chron: The Voice of the Rest, was the first to notice.

 We would encourage the other San Francisco newspaper, The Chronicle, to require Zennie to disclose his relationship with Singer and his clients, given that Zennie has no other explanation for this odd alignment of interests other than “coincidence.”

 And, based on our sources, The Chronicle may want to take a closer, “ethical” look at one of their most prolific bloggers before they, too, have some explaining to do.

Criminal Charges Could Be Filed In U.S. Against Chevron’s Operative Diego Borja

2011-10-23T09:16:00.001-04:00

Diego Borja -- the man who stands behind a now-discredited sting operation designed to derail the multi-billion dollar pollution lawsuit against Chevron -- could face criminal charges in the U.S. and in Ecuador, according to his lawyer. Borja’s illegal scheme (it is against the law in Ecuador to secretly videotape individuals) resulted in a 16-month delay of the $18 billion judgment against Chevron.

A transcript from federal court proceedings in San Francisco reveals that Borja's high-profile lawyer, Ted Cassman, who is paid by Chevron, admitted that his client could be faced with criminal charges in the U.S. in addition to an ongoing investigation by criminal prosecutors in Ecuador.

The Ecuadorians have asked the court to release documents related to the sting operation because they believe emails and other materials will prove Chevron’s involvement with Borja. Despite court orders to do so, Borja and other parties involved have released only 13 of over 700 documents requested.

Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians said:

"We believe the delay caused by this Chevron-orchestrated sting operation created untold suffering for thousands of people who live in a poisoned environment due to the company's reckless operational practices, It is imperative that Chevron immediately make public all documents related to this scheme."

Chevron In Trouble In Australia; National TV Show Blasts Chevron's Environmental Practices

2011-10-12T12:39:00.019-04:00

As the oil giant prepares for new drilling operations in Australia, the country is beginning to question its toxic legacy. In "The Amazon's Toxic Mess," Sunday Night reporter Mike Monro joins Zoe Tryon to witness the devastation in Ecuador first hand.As Monro notes,"While Chevron is establishing its environmental credentials in Australia, in the Amazon,it’s fighting hard ball to avoid paying billions to clean up this toxic catastrophe."

The piece takes viewers right into the three meter deep pits of crude oil Chevron is refusing clean. In dramatic moments, the story demonstrates how Chevron contaminated the land and water and how that contamination has resulted in over 1,400 deaths and thousands more suffering from illnesses.

Check out the story here:

In her blog post on the story, Tryon goes into even more detail on the lengths Chevron has gone to cover up its legacy of polluting the Amazon. She illuminates the sad history of Chevron and Texaco's destruction of the land and how it has affected the indigenous people living in Ecuador:

"Over its 28 years of operation Texaco dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waters and waste crude directly into rivers and over 900 unlined toxic pits throughout the area impacting 30,000 indigenous people and farmers living in the area. These ‘formation waters’ contained some of the most dangerous chemicals known to man including Policyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH’s), benzene and toluene. One court-ordered technical report on file in Lago Agrio court house concludes that Texaco's pollution caused 2,091 cases of cancer among residents and led to 1,401 deaths from 1985 to 1998."

As Tryon notes, Chevron is "the largest holder of natural gas resources in Australia." If Chevron is willing to leave the people of Ecuador with a toxic waste dump in their backyards, what will it do to Australia?

Wikileaks Cable Reveals Chevron Tried To Buy Ecuadorian Government Support To Kill Contamination Lawsuit With A Few "Social Projects" In Amazon

2011-09-23T12:52:00.001-04:00

Courthouse News in an article about the Wikileaks cables from the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador revealed Chevron's hypocrisy in accusing the Ecuadorians of "conspiring" with Ecuadorian government officials in the long-running legal battle in the Amazon rainforest. Seems Chevron was "conspiring" with the U.S. Embassy. In his closing, legal reporter Adam Klasfeld reminds readers that even the highly-prejudiced Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan recognized that Chevron does not have "clean" hands. The surfacing of the Wikileaks' cables comes on the heels of a 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rebuked Kaplan in his effort to block the Ecuadorians from enforcing their $18 billion judgment in Ecuador.

Here's the story, and below are a few excerpts:

Reporter Adam Klasfeld wrote:

"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…."

".... in a cable to the U.S. secretary of state, former U.S. Ambassador Linda Jewell wrote that Chevron had begun to "quietly explore" a deal with the government of Ecuador (GOE) to make the case disappear. (The cable read:) 'Chevron had begun to quietly explore with senior GOE officials whether it could implement a series of social projects in the concession area in exchange for GOE support for ending the case, but now that the expert has released a huge estimate for alleged damage, it might be hard for the GOE to go that route, even if it has the ability to bring the case to a close,' Jewell wrote on April 7, 2008…."

"....The Wikileaks cables also show that Chevron did not always have misgivings about the Ecuadorean courts. One rallying cry Chevron has used to undermine the Lago Agrio trial is a video that allegedly implicates the presiding judge, Juan Nuñez, in $3 million bribery scheme. Chevron has claimed it received videos unsolicited and published them over the Internet on Aug. 31, 2008….

"Two days after Chevron published the Nuñez footage, then-U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges sent a cable to the secretary reporting that Chevron lawyers phoned the Embassy to give diplomats a 'heads up' about the disclosure. Ecuador ultimately expelled Hodges this past April for disclosures she made in unrelated cables obtained by Wikileaks. While denying wrongdoing, Nuñez stepped down from the case to avoid the appearance of impropriety. But cracks quickly surfaced in Chevron's allegations. Summarizing hours of footage, The New York Times later reported, 'No bribes were shown on the tapes.'"

"Hodges explained in the cable that the 'tapes were recorded clandestinely by Diego Borja, an Ecuadorian who had performed work for Chevron as a logistics contractor, and Wayne Hansen, a U.S. citizen with no ties to Chevron.' Although Chevron has distanced itself from the cameramen, Courthouse News discovered emails currently under a court seal that show Hansen contacted the company's investigator months before the release of the videos. Hansen claimed in the email that Chevron duped him, and he threatened to ask Judge Nuñez for forgiveness if the company did not contact him."

"More than a year later, he sent another email to Borja's investigative firm. Hansen claimed that he was in Peru, to which he had apparently fled in defiance of a subpoena that would compel an explanation of the videos. Hodges, the ambassador, told Washington that Ecuadorean government officials were immediately skeptical and indignant about the recordings….."

".... In a follow-up cable sent about a week later, Hodges said that Ecuador's prosecutor general called on the (U.S.) attorney general to 'initiate proceedings against Chevron in the United States, presumably for violations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.' The Ecuadorean government has not backed off from allegations that Chevron orchestrated a 'judicial entrapment' scheme, and it continues to ask a U.S. federal judge to unseal the Borja and Hansen communications."

"In one of the first discovery proceedings Chevron initiated last year in New York, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan interrupted counsel for the Ecuadoreans as the lawyer assailed Chevron's litigation strategy.

'I am not naive,' Kaplan said. 'I don't assume that anyone's hands in this are clean.'"

Ecuadorians Beat Back Chevron's Effort To Evade Justice In Massive Contamination Lawsuit

2011-09-21T16:23:00.006-04:00

Earlier this week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed what the Ecuadorians have said all along: Chevron has abused not only the laws in Ecuador but in its own country, and Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan jumped the gun in issuing a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the $18 billion judgment the Ecuadorians sought and won.

Han Shan of Amazon Watch captured the emotions of the day best in his blog here:

Huge Victory for Ecuadorians Fighting for Justice from Chevron as Oil Giant's Legal Strategy Derails,

Yesterday, a 3-judge panel from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a stunning blow to Chevron's abusive and deceitful efforts to evade accountability for its oil disaster in Ecuador.

The appeals court threw out U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan's injunction that purported to prohibit the Ecuadorian plaintiffs from enforcing the $18 billion judgment against Chevron delivered by an Ecuadorian court in February. It also indefinitely stayed a trial that Judge Kaplan had scheduled for November over a preposterous countersuit filed in his court against the Ecuadorians and their attorneys, at which Chevron hoped to have the Ecuadorian verdict against the company declared unenforceable. The preliminary order from the 2nd Circuit came just one business day after a hearing before the panel on Friday, Sept. 16th, and said that a full ruling looking at the various issues will come "in due course."

Amazon Watch founder and Executive Director Atossa Soltani appears on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman to discuss the implications of the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' victory in the appeals court.

As legal reporter Alison Frankel writes in her On the Case column:

Monday's stunning two-page order from the panel gave the Ecuadorean plaintiffs their first victory in two years of battling in New York's federal courts. But it was a huge win.

The appeals court order constitutes a harsh rebuke to Judge Kaplan's over-reach in the case, making him Chevron's most valuable legal asset in the company's dirty fight to avoid responsibility for its pollution in Ecuador. The appeals panel didn't remove Judge Kaplan, as requested by the Ecuadorian plaintiffs, but as Marco Simons, legal director for EarthRights International writes on his blog:

"... the appeals court declined to remove Judge Kaplan, who the Ecuadorians believe is biased against them, from the case. But it's possible that, after the court issues its opinion, there won't be any case left for Kaplan to preside over."

The ruling also dealt a humiliating rebuke to the strategy driven by outside law firm Gibson Dunn, and Crutcher law firm and lead counsel Randy Mastro, who was literally laughed out of court at the hearing which led to the order.

After attending hearing after hearing at which Mastro made sweeping fraud and conspiracy allegations against the Ecuadorians and their lawyers supported by the flimsiest of fantasy, theory, and conjecture, it was truly a breath of fresh air for this author to watch the Gibson Dunn lawyer wither at questions from the appellate panel based in logic, common sense, and the rule of law.

Pablo Fajardo, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the Associated Press:

"We can now at least dream there will be justice and compensation for the damage, the environmental crime, committed by Chevron in Ecuador."

More than anything, the order from the appeals court represents the most stinging rebuke to the arrogant and deceitful strategy employed by the cabal of lawyers, spinmasters, and seriously-conflicted executives running a mini Orwellian empire within the company devoted to characterizing the Ecuadorian plaintiffs as criminals, and painting the company that poisoned them as victims. They thought overwhelming evidence of the company's crimes in Ecuador could be beaten back with shameless cynicism and an astonishing outlay of cash.

Even 2nd Circuit appeals court Judge Richard Wesley wondered aloud how much money had been spent by Chevron to pursue its legal strategy, and at what cost to shareholders.

Regulators, politicians, institutional investors, and shareholders who have heard Chevron management deny that the company faces any significant liability in Ecuador are going to be asking the most difficult questions that Chevron's lawyers and leadership (if one can call it that) have yet heard, now that the 2nd Circuit has affirmed the rule of law over Chevron's deceptive sensationalism.

Will Chevron management "face reality" as New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli—trustee of the New York State's Pension Fund with $780 million in Chevron stock—demanded during this past May's Chevron shareholder meeting? Or will CEO John Watson, architect of Chevron's takeover of Texaco and the company's toxic legacy in Ecuador, and other senior management allow the entire company to be driven off a cliff by outside lawyers who have no interest in ending a legal saga that continues to line their pockets?

Secoya indigenous leader Humberto Piaguaje (L) and campesino communtiy leader Servio Curipoma (R)—who have both worked tirelessly to demand justice from Chevron—outside of a courthouse in New York on Sept. 16.

Either way, this decision brings the people of the Ecuadorian Amazon one step closer to justice, and we call on Chevron's management to do the right thing by meeting the company's moral, legal and fiduciary obligations to clean up its contamination in Ecuador. Of course, justice delayed is justice denied, and the men, women, and children of the Ecuadorian Amazon have suffered for far too long already.

More coverage:

BBC: 'US court rules against Chevron in Ecuador oil case'

Global Post: 'Chevron must pay for Amazon damage: court'

The Guardian (UK): 'Chevron loses latest stage of Amazon pollution battle'

The San Francisco Chronicle: 'U.S. court rules against Chevron in Ecuador case'
– Han

Chevron Misleads U.S. Courts About Pressuring Ecuador's Government & U.S. Embassy in Ecuador to Halt Indigenous Groups' Contamination Lawsuit

2011-09-12T09:26:00.004-04:00

This DeSmogBlog post clearly shows how Chevron is misleading, if not downright lying, to U.S. courts about pressuring Ecuador's government and the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador to halt a lawsuit, filed by five indigenous groups against the oil giant for massive oil contamination in their Amazon rainforest homeland. Chevron has accused the Ecuadorians suing the company of inappropriate interactions with Ecuadorian government officials, while denying its own. More to come on this issue.

EXCLUSIVE: Documents Reveal Chevron’s Changing Tune In Ecuador Rainforest Destruction Case

Brendan DeMelle

New documents uncovered in the ongoing legal battle over Chevron/Texaco’s destruction of the Ecuadorian rainforest show that, while Chevron recently labeled the guilty verdict and $18 billion fine leveled against its Texaco unit by an Ecuadorian court as “illegitimate and unenforceable,” it was in fact the oil company that lobbied fiercely to have the case moved out of U.S.courts to the Ecuadorian justice system.
 
DeSmogBlog has reviewed corporate memos, letters and records of meetings documenting the oil giant’s efforts to have the case moved from New York - where it was originally filed by the plaintiffs - to Ecuador, where the company hoped to use its influential connections within the government at the time to have the case dismissed.

 Further, Chevron’s accusation that the plaintiffs conspired with Ecuadorian judicial and government officials is quizzical in light of the documents revealing that, in fact, it was the oil company’s representatives who held ethically questionable meetings with government officials.

 While the plaintiffs in the case did meet with Ecuadorian government officials, they did so to report a crime - the falsification of a remediation agreement based on test samples taken at the so-called “remediated” sites during the trial.

 The oil company’s secretive meetings with the Ecuadorian government served an entirely different purpose. The documents appear to indicate the company’s potentially corrupt tampering with international negotiations between the U.S.and Ecuador over which country’s justice system was the correct venue for hearing the case.

 From 1993 until the case was moved to Ecuador in 2002, Chevron argued aggressively in U.S. courts that Ecuador was the preferred forum for the suit because the pollution occurred there. It was the plaintiffs who first contended that the case should be heard in New York, where Texaco was headquartered, and away from the possible corruption in Ecuador.

 Historically, the oil industry has had a tight grip on Latin American governments, enjoying immense control over their own destiny. Wheels were greased with bribes, and government officials were loyal to the companies’ interests. Ecuador’s government was not immune to this oil industry influence, as the documents reveal.

For example, a 1993 letter addressed to the State Department from the Ecuadorian ambassador to the United States was written with the help of Texaco government affairs official Michael Kostiw (who happens to be a former CIA operative dubbed “Bacon Guy” by the Washington Post for his infamous exit from the agency over the theft of a package of bacon, shortly before he was hired by Chevron).

 The letter that the company man helped to craft for the ambassador argues that the case should be tried in Ecuador, not the United States, because “only Ecuadorian authorities have the competence to pass judgment on such cases.”[PDF]

 The hypocrisy of that statement is now stunning in the wake of Chevron’s reaction to the guilty verdict handed down recently by a competent Ecuadorian judge who originally fined the company some $8 billion for its destruction of the rainforest and local communities, an amount that later rose to over $18 billion due to Chevron’s failure to acknowledge and apologize for its pollution. Instead, Chevron immediately labeled the judgment “illegitimate and unenforceable” and seemed to suggest that Ecuador had committed “fraud” by leveling the guilty verdict against Texaco.

 That is in sharp contrast to the company’s earlier touting of the fairness and independence of the Ecuadorian court system in affidavits submitted to the court. Chevron argued loudly that Ecuador was the correct venue to try the case(PDF pg 18). In one affidavit, the company’s own hand-picked expert noted that the U.S. court “should not be concerned about the ability of the Ecuadorian courts to dispense independent, impartial justice…. Ecuador’s judicial system is neither corrupt nor unfair… Ecuador has a democratic government with an independent judiciary.”[PDF]

 A 1994 internal memo from Texaco consultant Holwill & Company describes Texaco’s efforts to lobby the Ecuadorian government to convince the U.S.courts the case should be tried in Ecuador. The memo notes that:

“The top priority… must be to protect Texaco, Inc., from the lawsuit in US courts.To the extent that your [Chevron’s] litigators believe that an amicus brief by the [government of Ecuador] will be helpful to their efforts, we should first focus on getting that back on track.

This can be done by working with certain opinion leaders in Ecuador to explain the implications of the law suit for investments in Ecuador.”The memos also reveal some hints of the corruption among Ecuadorian officials that the oil company would later hope to leverage in order to derail the lawsuit. Long before the company’s lobbying efforts succeeded in winning a change of venue and shifting jurisdiction over the trial from New York to Ecuador – the company had identified allies in key positions of the Ecuadorian government ready to act in the company’s best interests.

 A 1993 memo from Texaco consultant Holwill & Company details the lobbyists’ meeting with the Ecuadorian Minister of Energy, who told them he had “been tough on the company” in a press conference, but he then “winked” and said “it’s all politics.”

 The memo goes on to reveal that the Minister of Energy had offered the job of sub-secretary for the environment to a former Texaco employee – “a post important to Texaco.”

 A separate 1993 memo relays the results of an “extremely productive and cordial”meeting between Texaco officials and Ecuador’s Vice President at the time, Alberto Dahik, about efforts to reach a financial agreement with the Ecuadorian government to drop the government’s claims over the pollution. The memo reveals many instances in which Dahik went out of his way to help Texaco resolve the dispute quickly in order to keep the company interested in investing further in Ecuador, including at a fast-approaching round of oil leases.

 According to the memo:

“Dahik stressed again his desire to resolve the matter and to encourage additional investment in Ecuador by Texaco.…the resolution of the fiscal issues would permit the company to participate in the Seventh Round of Oil Leases. … (Comment: Dahik seemed as interested in touting Texaco’s interest publicly as he was in Texaco actually making new investments.)”

The memo author gloats on more than one occasion at the ease with which the company’s requests were handled by the vice president, who went around key ministers who might have objected, dealing with lower level staff to help the company.
“We felt that it was significant that Dahik by-passed finance minister Robalin and called a third level official instead…”

During the course of two decades of fossil fuel extraction and drilling activities, Texaco contaminated huge swatches of rainforest, displacing native peoples, threatening water supplies and public health and permanently altering the delicate jungle ecosystems that supported the indigenous population’s culture and way of life. What remains of the proud local population faces a legacy of cancer and other health maladies. They must also endure Chevron’s condescending assurances that their health problems are due to their poverty and lack of sanitation – as if they hadn’t coexisted with the land in fine health prior to the oilmen’s arrival.

 As those who have seen the documentary Crude understand, there is no question that Petroecuador – which assumed some of the oil operations left behind when Texaco bailed from Ecuador in 1991 – is guilty of its own share of pollution and malfeasance, but Chevron’s attempts to hide behind the “consortium” that it built with the state-owned gas company are disingenuous.

 Chevron’s culpability for its legacy of pollution is as clear as the rainwater the people now rely on for drinking and cooking since they can no longer safely use the contaminated groundwater and river water that supported their civilization prior to the oil company’s arrival.

 Chevron should accept the Ecuadorian court’s verdict and apologize to the people of Ecuador. But instead, the company will appeal, delay and deny responsibility until there are no victims left standing. With the oil industry, “it’s all politics.”

Borja Hansen Plot Thickens As Chevron Flack Robertson Releases Sealed Document To News Media

2011-08-18T19:26:00.006-04:00

Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson

Read the latest about Chevron operatives Kent Robertson, Diego Borja and Wayne Hansen at these two excellent blogs by Amazon Watch and the Rainforest Action Network.

Diego Borja

Here are a couple of eye-opening excerpts:

"The contents of Hansen’s emails to his Chevron handler clearly show that he was engaged in some sort of underhanded activity on behalf of the company, was expecting a big payday, and, at the time of writing, fears he may have been left out in the cold."

In the weeks after he and an Ecuadorian Chevron contractor named Diego Borja executed their scheme, Hansen writes to his contact at Chevron:

"I have been waiting for your call, you said you would call me. ... It seems that the oil co has cut a deal with Diego and I have not heard a word from anyone but Diego. What am I to think?"

Wayne Hansen as a young convict

Reuters’ Column Reveals Judge Kaplan’s Bias Against Ecuadorians In His Upcoming “Show Trial” On $18 Billion Judgment Against Chevron

2011-08-17T09:37:00.002-04:00

A recent Reuters’ column by journalist Alison Frankel reveals the stark bias of U.S. Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan against the Ecuadorians who recently won an $18 billion judgment against the oil giant for oil contamination in the Amazon rainforest.

Frankel’s column makes clear that even though Chevron’s charges against the Ecuadorians focus largely on one of their lawyers, Steven Donziger, Judge Kaplan has refused to allow Donziger and his attorneys to participate in an upcoming trial on the enforceability of the Ecuadorian judgment.

It’s also clear from the mountain of trial discovery that Chevron is demanding from Donziger, the other attorneys in the case (even interns!) and the Ecuadorians that the oil giant fully intends to drag Donziger center stage into the trial.

Frankel quotes from the legal brief, asking Judge Kaplan for fairness:

“If what actually happened in Ecuador matters at all to the court's decision, the court should let Donziger intervene, grant the Lago Agrio plaintiffs' motion (for more time) and let the parties conduct a real, not show, trial," states the brief, written by Donziger’s law firm, Keker & Van Nest.

Frankel includes this statement from the brief:

"The exclusion of Donziger from full intervention in this 'do-over' trial has reached the point of absurdity. The trial will be about him, and he won't be there to defend himself against Chevron calumny."

Frankel reported that Judge Kaplan even went so far as to deny Donziger attorney John Keker the right to speak on a telephone conference call with the judge and Chevron’s lawyers.

She wrote from the transcript of an August 2nd phone conference. “At the end of the conference, John Keker said, ‘Your honor, can I say something?’ Kaplan replied: ‘No, Mr. Keker. You're not in the case for this purpose. You're being given the courtesy of being conferenced in but the scope of your intervention has been fixed.’"

Meanwhile the Ecuadorians, represented by Smyser, Kaplan & Veselka, see Judge Kaplan’s actions as proof of his bias.

"Judge Kaplan encouraged Chevron to file the lawsuit against Steven Donziger and when Donziger demanded an immediate jury trial Judge Kaplan all but directed Chevron to drop him as a defendant," said the Ecuadorians’ spokeswoman Karen Hinton. "Now he won't let Donziger anywhere near his courtroom. This is turning into a home-cooked judicial bailout for Chevron."

Car Talk Advice: Don’t Buy Gas From Chevron

2011-08-15T09:02:00.002-04:00

Here’s some more sound automobile advice from Car Talk: Don’t buy gas at Chevron stations. See article here

Jamie Lincoln Kitman, New York bureau chief for Automobile Magazine and automotive editor for GQ magazine, says Chevron’s “epic despoiling” of the Ecuadorian rainforest is “right up there with the worst in the oil industry’s oversubscribed Hall of Shame.”

“In fact, it may even make BP look good.”

Kitman posted to the popular NPR show’s Web site, where he is a contributor, here:

So if you’re the kind of person who boycotted BP after the Gulf disaster, Kitman says, you may want to consider passing by Chevron stations, too.

The blog has been getting hits; there were more than 30 comments posted recently, most of them like these:

Just one more example of big corporation greediness outdone only by their lawyer’s sleaziness!

Thanks for the info. I’ll put them on my posilutely not to be used list!

Eye-opening. Thank you very much for writing this.

The record, says Kitman, “reveals that Texaco and Chevron have outdone themselves even by the low standards of their industry.” (Chevron bought Texaco, which did the actual polluting, and assumed its liability.)

That isn’t, of course, just Kitman’s opinion. The Ecuadorian court hearing the epic 20-year lawsuit the victims filed against Chevron agreed in February. Chevron, which once wanted the suit heard in Ecuador, now of course wants to move the fight back to the U.S. – just one of many astoundingly dilatory tactics Chevron’s lawyers have deployed against the 30,000 people whose land and water was befouled with toxins.

So Chevron, as Kitman writes, “is back to papering plaintiffs to death, with endless discovery requests hurled at [the Ecuadorians’ lawyer], as well as former interns, associates and lawyers on the case.”

“But whatever happens,” Kitman concludes, “you may want to stay out of Chevron stations for some time to come.”

Chevron’s Favorite Blogger, Zennie Abraham:

2011-07-19T11:11:00.011-04:00