As some of you know, we've been following the Chevron - Ecuador story for some time now. To recap, the problem is that in the 1960s Texaco produced oil out of that country and through 1990 and in partnership with the Country of Ecuador . During that time, there were oil spills and economic damage due to oil production. Texaco spent $40 million in "environmental remediation" which is another term for carrying out a cleanup program.
Chevron purchased Texaco in 2001 for 46.3 billion, thus assuming Texaco's work and responsibilities in Ecuador. By that time, Ecuador's then-new state-owned petroleum organization Petroecuador assumed responsibility for the oil wells that were once the product of the partnership. But the problem is that since that time and through today, oil spills and environmental damage have continued, but Petroecuador has done nothing to either prevent the occurrence of or clean up what was done.
Meanwhile, the Country of Ecuador has moved to work on three fronts:
1) Nationalize the oil industry via Petroecuador
2) Kick out American oil companies like Occidental Petroleum and take over their production facilities.
3. Sued Chevron Texaco to get money to pay for environmental damage that their own state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, caused
The third point is the focus of my blog. Ecuador's suing Chevron to have them pay the afforementioned damange. To that end, they were assisted by a lawyer by the name of Steve Donziger, who had been working on the case as an "American Legal Advisor", but who has also admitted his own financial ambitions as he could gain $5 billion from a victory . The lawsuit -- valued at $16.5 billion by one estimate -- has been the focus of much legal movement. The latest action by Chevron had it file an appeal to have Ecuador enter into arbitration discussions regarding the level of liability each party is responsible for. But there's one large problem.
The appellate court doesn't understand the contractual relationships. It calls Chevron a "third party."
What!?!
When Chevron purchased Texaco it essentially became Texaco, with all of its obligations and problems. Thus, it's not a third party. But even with this fact, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York took the step of ignoring Chevron's claims of being able to pursue arbitration by seeing it as a "third party" when it's not.
The result of this failure means that Chevron now must seek other legal tools to get Ecuador to pay its fair share, but the other problem is more sinister: Ecuador's rich continue to cover-up their behavior and irresponsibility toward that country's poorest people. Making it look like it was just Chevron's fault does not erase the fact that Ecuador has been harming its poorest people.
The bottom line here is that just because a firm's an oil company does not mean it should be treated unfairly, especially when the lives of the poor of Ecuador are at stake. Chevron / Texaco has paid and does its share; the Country of Ecuador, which by the way will never give Chevron a fair trial, has not done so.
Showing posts with label chevron ecuador. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chevron ecuador. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Richard Cabrera Files Fraudulent Report: Chevron Claim
The "Richard Cabrera Report" is the basis for the much-used number "$16 billion" as the cost of Ecuador's lawsuit against Chevron. Now, Chevron representatives hammered this claim for the following reasons:
1. Cabrera manipulated and altered findings to justify false conclusions, including backdating photos;
2. He presented no evidence of pollution by Texaco Petroleum, erroneously assigning $1.4 billion in remediation costs to pits he did not visit and do not exist;
3. He presented no evidence to support cancer claims - neither identifying a single individual nor including a single medical report;
4. He did not take a single drinking water sample to establish contamination, yet he assigned $428 million in damages to be paid to improve Ecuador's potable water system;
5. Plaintiffs helped Cabrera compile the report, accompanying and assisting him on field trips, influencing the content of his report by providing him methodological tools such as questionable surveys and pre-written reports to use as report exhibits;
Item number 5 is key, because it's another example of how the government of Ecuador has been assisting the lawsuit against Chevron. Finding evidence to support this claim has been hard but this is one more item.
1. Cabrera manipulated and altered findings to justify false conclusions, including backdating photos;
2. He presented no evidence of pollution by Texaco Petroleum, erroneously assigning $1.4 billion in remediation costs to pits he did not visit and do not exist;
3. He presented no evidence to support cancer claims - neither identifying a single individual nor including a single medical report;
4. He did not take a single drinking water sample to establish contamination, yet he assigned $428 million in damages to be paid to improve Ecuador's potable water system;
5. Plaintiffs helped Cabrera compile the report, accompanying and assisting him on field trips, influencing the content of his report by providing him methodological tools such as questionable surveys and pre-written reports to use as report exhibits;
Item number 5 is key, because it's another example of how the government of Ecuador has been assisting the lawsuit against Chevron. Finding evidence to support this claim has been hard but this is one more item.
Ecuador Lawyer Pablo Fajardo Says Chevron Ecuador Case Could End In 2011
This is new and extraordinary news, considering that both sides expected a ruling this year. Well, someone's going to have to finance Steve Donziger for another three years!
By Mercedes Alvaro - Dow Jones Newswires, September 16, 2008: 5:47 PM
QUITO - (Dow Jones)- A five-year-old environmental-damage trial in Ecuador against U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. (CVX) could take at least two or three more years, lawyers said Tuesday.
The delay is expected after objections to an April report from a court- appointed expert were received by a court in Lago Agrio.
The report prepared by Richard Cabrera, a geologist and environmental consultant, recommended that Chevron pay at least $8.3 billion, and maybe as much as $16 billion, in compensation for environmental damage in Ecuador.
Chevron is facing the lawsuit in Ecuador for alleged contamination by its Texaco unit in the Amazon region of Lago Agrio. The company is accused of having used out-of-date technology that led to environmental damage.
The complaint was launched in 1993 in a lawsuit in New York courts, which ruled that the case should be tried in Ecuador. In May 2003, several indigenous groups filed a lawsuit against the company in Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja).
The judge is expected to give Cabrera a reasonable timeframe to answer the objections from both Chevron and the plaintiffs.
Pablo Fajardo, one of the plaintiffs lawyers, told Dow Jones Newswires that he expects a final decision in 2011.
Chevron on Monday submitted its objections to Cabrera's report, saying that it contains "fabricated and erroneous evidence," exaggerated claims for damages and "was developed in collusion with the plaintiffs and their attorneys."
The company urged the court to reject Cabrera's report and accused him of manipulating and altering findings to justify false conclusions, including backdating photos.
The aim, said the company, is to make Chevron liable for all the environmental impact caused solely by Ecuadorian state oil company Petroecuador during 18-plus years of operation of the concession.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs submitted their objections on Tuesday.
Fajardo said the plaintiffs are asking Cabrera to calculate the amount of damage to water supplies, and other damages.
Chevron has said several times that it has met all the requirements for environmental cleanup that were agreed upon with Petroecuador.
Chevron also has said that in 1998 Petroecuador released the U.S.-based company from any liabilities regarding cleanup efforts.
The plaintiffs said that this release isn't from individual claims and that the so-called "cleaned up" pits remain contaminated.
Ecuador Lawyer Pablo Fajardo Says Chevron Ecuador Case Could End In 2011
This is new and extraordinary news, considering that both sides expected a ruling this year. Well, someone's going to have to finance Steve Donziger for another three years!
By Mercedes Alvaro - Dow Jones Newswires, September 16, 2008: 5:47 PM
QUITO - (Dow Jones)- A five-year-old environmental-damage trial in Ecuador against U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. (CVX) could take at least two or three more years, lawyers said Tuesday.
The delay is expected after objections to an April report from a court- appointed expert were received by a court in Lago Agrio.
The report prepared by Richard Cabrera, a geologist and environmental consultant, recommended that Chevron pay at least $8.3 billion, and maybe as much as $16 billion, in compensation for environmental damage in Ecuador.
Chevron is facing the lawsuit in Ecuador for alleged contamination by its Texaco unit in the Amazon region of Lago Agrio. The company is accused of having used out-of-date technology that led to environmental damage.
The complaint was launched in 1993 in a lawsuit in New York courts, which ruled that the case should be tried in Ecuador. In May 2003, several indigenous groups filed a lawsuit against the company in Lago Agrio (Nueva Loja).
The judge is expected to give Cabrera a reasonable timeframe to answer the objections from both Chevron and the plaintiffs.
Pablo Fajardo, one of the plaintiffs lawyers, told Dow Jones Newswires that he expects a final decision in 2011.
Chevron on Monday submitted its objections to Cabrera's report, saying that it contains "fabricated and erroneous evidence," exaggerated claims for damages and "was developed in collusion with the plaintiffs and their attorneys."
The company urged the court to reject Cabrera's report and accused him of manipulating and altering findings to justify false conclusions, including backdating photos.
The aim, said the company, is to make Chevron liable for all the environmental impact caused solely by Ecuadorian state oil company Petroecuador during 18-plus years of operation of the concession.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs submitted their objections on Tuesday.
Fajardo said the plaintiffs are asking Cabrera to calculate the amount of damage to water supplies, and other damages.
Chevron has said several times that it has met all the requirements for environmental cleanup that were agreed upon with Petroecuador.
Chevron also has said that in 1998 Petroecuador released the U.S.-based company from any liabilities regarding cleanup efforts.
The plaintiffs said that this release isn't from individual claims and that the so-called "cleaned up" pits remain contaminated.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Wayne Berman, Top McCain Fundraiser, Also Lobbyist For Big Oil
Wayne Berman's a key fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain and a member of the government relations staff of Oglivy, a PR firm with a Washington office.
Berman's a prime example of why people say that McCain's in the pocket of Big Oil. Wayne Berman's serving as a lobbyist for Chevron in their legal battle against the country of Ecuador.
Berman has taken the incredible step of trying to get the Bush Administration to take special trade preferences away from Ecuador if that country doesn't drop its billion dollar lawsuit against Chevron.
I can personally save Wayne Berman the trouble by telling him Chevron's not at fault to anywhere near the levels charged by Ecuador. But the other side of this story has nothing to do with Chevron and everything to do with Wayne Berman's key involvement in McCain's campaign.
With ties like Wayne Berman, it's impossible for McCain to claim he's not a friend of Big Oil.
Berman's a prime example of why people say that McCain's in the pocket of Big Oil. Wayne Berman's serving as a lobbyist for Chevron in their legal battle against the country of Ecuador.
Berman has taken the incredible step of trying to get the Bush Administration to take special trade preferences away from Ecuador if that country doesn't drop its billion dollar lawsuit against Chevron.
I can personally save Wayne Berman the trouble by telling him Chevron's not at fault to anywhere near the levels charged by Ecuador. But the other side of this story has nothing to do with Chevron and everything to do with Wayne Berman's key involvement in McCain's campaign.
With ties like Wayne Berman, it's impossible for McCain to claim he's not a friend of Big Oil.
Petroecuador Employees Fight Over Occidential Petroleum's Left Over Luxury Cars
If one needs any evidence of how divided Ecuador's class culture really is, and of how this still-poor country (even with its oil industry) has so little that its citizens scrap for everything, we have this report of Petroecuador employees actually coming to blows over luxury cars left behind after the state forced that American oil company out of the country.
Now, the resulting "wake" has improved the oil sector, if not the messy politics that defines it in this country. Now, Petroecuador controls 50 percent of all oil export production in Ecuador. And while Occidental has approached the Bush Administration for help in re-acquiring the assets seized by Ecuador, the nation's representatives are taking a hard line stance, not allowing a "an arrogant, portentous transnational that doesn’t respect Ecuadoran laws to harm our country,” according to Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa.
Now, the resulting "wake" has improved the oil sector, if not the messy politics that defines it in this country. Now, Petroecuador controls 50 percent of all oil export production in Ecuador. And while Occidental has approached the Bush Administration for help in re-acquiring the assets seized by Ecuador, the nation's representatives are taking a hard line stance, not allowing a "an arrogant, portentous transnational that doesn’t respect Ecuadoran laws to harm our country,” according to Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Steve Donziger Wants Billions From Chevron Not For Ecuador
Steve Donziger Wants Billions From Chevron Not For Ecuador
Steve Donziger, the lawyer representing Ecuador against Chevron in a $16 billion lawsuit, where Chevron is not the actual party at fault, stands to gain over $5 billion, making him one of the richest people in the World -- if he wins.
If the truth prevails, the company Donziger should be suing is Petroecuador, owned by the Country of Ecuador. That firm has been responsible for explosions and oil spills since 1990. If Donziger wins, Petroecudor litterally gets away with murder.
..More to come.
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