Texaco Broke It; Chevron Bought It; Now Chevron Has To Fix It

Chevron executives continue to argue before anyone who will listen (and that’s mostly people who have been paid by Chevron to listen) that just because the company bought Texaco doesn’t mean Chevron is responsible for Texaco’s massive contamination of the Ecuador rainforest.

What Chevron neglects to mention is that not only have the Ecuadorian courts refuted that nonsensical argument, but the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has as well.

Here is what the U.S. appellate court judges wrote in a related ruling in footnotes 3, 4 and 5:

“Chevron Corporation claims, without citation to relevant case law, that it is not bound by the promises made by its predecessors in interest Texaco and ChevronTexaco, Inc. However, in seeking affirmance of the district court’s forum non conveniens dismissal, lawyers from ChevronTexaco appeared in this Court and reaffirmed the concessions that Texaco had made in order to secure dismissal of Plaintiffs’ complaint. In so doing, ChevronTexaco bound itself to those concessions.

“In 2005, ChevronTexaco dropped the name “Texaco” and reverted to its original name, Chevron Corporation. There is no indication in the record before us that shortening its name had any effect on ChevronTexaco’s legal obligations.

“Chevron Corporation therefore remains accountable for the promises upon which we and the district court relied in dismissing Plaintiffs’ action.

“Texaco had been trying to convince the district court that Ecuador would serve as an adequate alternative forum for resolution of its dispute with Plaintiffs. As part of those efforts, Texaco assured the district court that it would recognize the binding nature of any judgment issued in Ecuador. Doing so displayed Texaco’s well-founded belief that such a promise would make the district court more likely to grant its motion to dismiss. Had Texaco taken a different approach and agreed to participate in the Ecuadorian litigation, but announced an intention to disregard any judgment the Ecuadorian courts might issue, dismissal would have been (to say the least) less likely.

“We therefore conclude that the district court adopted Texaco’s promise to satisfy any judgment issued by the Ecuadorian courts, subject to its rights under New York’s Recognition of Foreign Country Money Judgments Act, in awarding Texaco the relief it sought in its motion to dismiss.

“As a result, that promise, along with Texaco’s more general promises to submit to Ecuadorian jurisdiction, is enforceable against Chevron in this action and any future proceedings between the parties, including enforcement actions, contempt proceedings,
and attempts to confirm arbitral awards.”

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Chevron's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Thriller -- Even Better Than The Movie

Chevron is spying on the two lead attorneys for the Ecuadorians to intimidate and harass them,reports the Amazon Defense Coalition. The lawyers, Pablo Fajardo and Steven Donziger, helped the Ecuadorians win an $18 billion judgment against the company for massive oil contamination. See press release here.

During an eight-year trial in Ecuador, Chevron has operated a corporate espionage campaign out of its San Ramon, California and Quito offices, hiring no less than four private investigative firms to carry out various plots in an effort to derail the lawsuit, but with no success.

In January, an Ecuador appellate court upheld the lower court's $18 billion judgment for what is considered to be the world's largest oil-related environmental disaster. Under Ecuador law, the Ecuadorians may enforce the judgment now, but they will have to do so in other countries' court systems because Chevron has refused to pay and has sold its major assets in Ecuador.

A private investigator hired by the Ecuadorians told the two lawyers he has seen tapes of Donziger under surveillance, and another said he watched individuals in cars follow Donziger and his family in New York City, where they live. The license plates indicated the cars had been rented.

In Ecuador, Fajardo was physically assaulted by two individuals who said they were serving legal papers on him on Chevron's behalf, even though Ecuador does not "serve" papers, as in the United States. Other Ecuadorian lawyers and staff have reported that they are being followed and have had backpacks and other items stolen.

This is not the first time this has happened. The United Nations directed Ecuador to provide security for the Ecuadorians and their lawyers in 2005, when similar incidents took place. See here.

Chevron has long relied on corporate spies to try and undermine the Ecuadorians' lawsuit.

Remember Diego Borja and Wayne Hansen?

A Chevron contractor, Diego Borja, admitted to a childhood friend he was Chevron's "dirty tricks" operative in Ecuador. The company said it paid him to lift soil and water samples from oil sites during the trial. In a recorded conversation, though, Borja said, his real job was to undermine the trial, something he said Chevron's lawyers had never been able to do in court.

On audio tapes, Borja said that he tried to spy on the Ecuadorians' testing lab by pretending to be someone else; that he switched dirty samples for clean samples; and that could prove Chevron had "cooked" evidence in the case. See here.

Borja partnered with an American named Wayne Hansen, to secretly videotape one of the judges who heard the case. Hansen and Borja used a spy pen and spy watch to tape the judge. They tried to offer him a bribe on camera. When the judge prepared to leave the room, Hansen badgered him to admit Chevron was guilty. The judge never discussed much less accepted a bribe and repeatedly told the two that he could not comment on Chevron's guilt. See here and here.

Nonetheless, Chevron has paraded the tapes in front of the news media and U.S. courts to argue fraud.

The online legal publication, Courthouse News, obtained emails written by Hansen to two of Chevron's private investigative firms hired to "handle" the California man after the Ecuadorians revealed Hansen was a convicted drug felon, not a legitimate businessman looking for contracts in Ecuador, as Chevron claimed.

Hansen wrote to Chevron's private investigator Oliver Beard of Investigative Research Services, Inc., that he wanted a "deal" similar to what Borja had received for the secret videotapes of the judge. Hansen wrote: "I need to hear from a real player with a plan for Wayne Hansen."

Not long after, Chevron hired another private investigative firm, The Mason Investigative Group, to deal with Hansen who vanished from the U.S. after being subpoenaed in 2011 under federal court order. According to the Courthouse News emails, Hansen thanked Eric Mason, the firm's president, for helping him move to Peru where he was "living like a king."

Eric Mason, Chevron's Spy

Currently Chevron, Borja and The Mason Group are fighting the release of discovery documents to the Ecuadorians and the Government of Ecuador in a California federal court. Out of 700 documents, only 13 largely irrelevant documents have been turned over by Chevron, Borja and The Mason Group. The Ecuadorians and the Government of Ecuador have been trying for over a year to obtain the documents in the face of repeated obstruction by Chevron and lawyers for The Mason Group and Borja, all of whom are paid by Chevron.

Legal papers filed in the discovery action accuse all three of trying to hide Chevron's "involvement in concocting and executing a plan to undermine the environmental litigation in Ecuador by tainting the presiding judge with a manufactured scandal."

Remember Mary Cuddehe and Sam Anson?

Sam Anson, Chevron's Spy

In 2010, the Atlantic Monthly exposed yet another clandestine effort by Chevron to throw the case.

Mary Cuddehe, an Iowa-born graduate of Columbia University with a Masters degree in Journalism, published an article documenting that the investigative firm Kroll has been running an espionage operation in Ecuador on behalf of Chevron.

Sam Anson, an investigator for Kroll, offered Cuddehe $20,000 for six weeks of work to appear as an independent journalist while working as an undercover spy in Ecuador. Her job was to spy on sick Ecuadorians to determine if they really had an illness. Anson paid for Cuddehe to travel to Bogota where the case was explained and she was offered the money in the suite of a luxury hotel. She later declined the job and instead wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly.

Chevron refused to comment on Cuddehe, but the company remains associated with Anson who spies for the oil giant full time.

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Chevron: A Fugitive From Justice In Latin America

Legal Battles & Threats Question Leadership of CEO Watson & General Counsel Pate

Chevron’s troubles in Latin America are escalating and calling into question the ability of its Chairman and CEO John Watson and General Counsel Hewe Pate to manage the oil giant in crisis.

Chevron CEO John Watson

General Counsel Hewe Pate

In Brazil, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges today against 17 Chevron executives for deploying substandard drilling practices and lying about the cause, safety plans and the cleanup of a November oil spill off its coast. An $11.2 billion civil lawsuit had been filed already.

In Ecuador, an appellate court upheld a lower court $18 billion judgment that found Chevron in violation of essentially the same charges -- dumping billions of gallons of toxic water of formation and pure crude throughout an area the size of Rhode Island, then lying about it and covering up a shoddy cleanup.

See here and here.

Surely Brazilian authorities had Ecuador in mind when they barred the Chevron executives from leaving the country earlier this week for fear the oil giant’s bigwigs would become fugitives from justice.

An “overreaction” is the way several U.S. analysts, covering the oil industry, have described Brazil’s reactions, but that’s only because they are weighing the relatively small size of the spill, not Chevron’s enormous disrespect for the rule of law in Brazil and in other Latin American countries.

Brazil is smart to recognize that Chevron is capable of doing anything to avoid being held accountable. It only has to look at Ecuador’s experience for evidence.

Chevron basically became a fugitive from justice when Watson, Pate and other high-level officials said that, regardless of the law and court decisions, it would never pay the Ecuador judgment.

Chevron’s refusal to post a bond while it appeals the judgment to Ecuador’s National Court allows the Ecuadorians to begin enforcement proceedings against the company, but they must do so outside the country because Chevron has sold most of its assets in Ecuador.

Confiscating the Chevron executives’ visas is wise, too.

In 2009, Chevron paid for the relocation of one of its Ecuador operatives and his family so he would not have to face a possible criminal investigation in Ecuador for secretly videotaping a judge and offering him a bribe.

Prior to Chevron’s public release of the videos, the company obtained visas for Diego Borja, a self-described “dirty tricks” operative, and his family and relocated them to San Ramon, California, its headquarters, and later to Houston, Texas.

Upon closer review of the tapes, the news media disputed the bribery charge. Later private investigations revealed that Chevron promised Borja and an accomplice payment for orchestrating the sting operation against the judge. Legal documents show that Borja has been paid $2.2 million since he left Ecuador in June 2009. Borja's partner, Wayne Hansen, is now out of reach of both Ecuador and U.S. authorities. With Chevron's assistance, Hansen now lives in Peru in an undisclosed location with no visible means of support, other than what Chevron is likely providing him.

Ecuadorian prosecutors would like nothing better than to question Borja and Hansen but, alas, they are not within their reach, thanks to Chevron.

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Chevron's Troubles

Chevron is facing troubles in a number of oil-rich countries, including Nigeria, Brazil, and, of course, Ecuador.

Here are three articles worth reading that appeared this weekend:

Chevron's Amazon-sized gamble on Latin America

The Chevron spill off the coast of Brazil is not so much about the amount of oil spilled but about Chevron's reckless behavior that results from the company's arrogance -- similar to its misconduct in Ecuador.

Excerpts: "The prosecutor told Reuters the more than $11 billion civil award sought against Chevron is not based on a clear assessment of damages from the spill. The figure is meant to send a message.

"'Energy companies operating here need to know that reckless behavior will cost them,' (the prosecutor) said.

"Chevron's worst-case scenario damages from Brazil and Ecuador could top the company's $26.9 billion in 2011 profits....

"Chevron's deputy comptroller, Rex Mitchell, warned in U.S. District Court last year that the Ecuadorians' collection effort could 'cause irreparable injury to Chevron's business reputation and business relationships.'

"Chevron may be spending $200 million per year in legal fees related to Ecuador alone, the plaintiff lawyers estimated. Chevron declined to comment on legal fees."

Chevron: Fire On Gas Rig Extinguished

Nigerians have been pleading with Chevron to help them following a fire on a gas rig that took over a month to put out, but Chevron has done very little.

Excerpts: "Residents here complained of air, water, and fish that taste of kerosene as the plume of smoke hovered within sight offshore.

"They're asking Chevron to relocate the approximately 10,000 people in the surrounding community--a request that cuts against long-standing religious ties to land in Nigeria's oil-rich marshland.

"Mostly, residents say their livelihood--fishing--has been spoiled by the gas fire.

"'The gas is inside the fish,' the youth chairman for the village, Bravely Salvage said. 'After eating the fish you feel like somebody who drunk diesel, you feel dizzy...some of us collapse.'"

Hits, and Misses, in a War on Bribery

The Ecuadorians believe Chevron is in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by offering what is essentially a $1 billion bribe to the Government of Ecuador for the Yasuni project and a small cleanup effort -- but only if the Government steps in and blocks the enforcement of the $18 billion judgment against Chevron.

Excerpts: "Enacted in 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits American companies and foreign companies whose securities are traded on exchanges here from bribing foreign officials to attract or keep business. For many years, there were few prosecutions under the act. In 2003, for instance, not a single person was charged.

"But in the last four years, a total of 58 companies have paid a combined $3.74 billion to settle such corruption charges. Since 2009, some 67 people have been charged, 20 are still awaiting trial or are at large, and 42 have been convicted, some from charges prior to 2009. A total of 22 have been acquitted or had charges dismissed.

"Lanny A. Breuer, the assistant United States attorney general who has stepped up enforcement actions under the act, said he saw no reason to change course. In fact, he is expanding his staff — and his range of potential targets.

“'We have to be willing to take cases that we would be willing to lose,' Mr. Breuer said in an interview. 'We can’t just pick the easy cases.'

"Even more, he sees himself on the right side of history, especially given the outcry against government corruption in the Arab world and elsewhere.

“'This is not the time for the United States to be condoning corruption,' Mr. Breuer said. 'We are a world leader and we want to do everything to make sure that business is less corrupt, not more.'”



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The Facts Are The Facts

As hard as Chevron tries, it can’t escape the undisputed facts that clearly show the company guilty of environmental crimes that resulted in the destruction of once pristine land and water in the Ecuador rainforest and direct harm to the health of the area’s 30,000 residents.

Chevron wants to make the Ecuador contamination lawsuit about anything other than these pesty facts:

-- Chevron intentionally dumped 18 billion gallons of hazardous water into the rainforest.

-- Chevron built over 900 unlined pits to permanently store pure crude and production water -- a toxic brew that continues to leech into the soil and water today.

-- Chevron oversaw a fraudulent remediation in 1995 that encouraged residents to build homes on top of and near oil pits they thought had been cleaned by the company.

-- Chevron’s own tests taken during the trial found that soil and water samples from the so-called “remediated” pits were just as toxic as samples from pits that had not been cleaned.

-- Chevron knowingly put these people in greater danger to their health and lives by not confessing the company had simply thrown dirt over the pits instead of cleaning them properly, as required by the agreement.

-- Chevron has lost the case.

-- The Ecuadorians have won and have a legitimate judgment they are preparing to enforce.

And those are the facts.



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BP Talks Settlement In Gulf, While Chevron Pouts

Former BP CEO Tony Hayward shocked the world with his remark about wanting "his life back" only days after 11 people lost theirs in the Gulf Coast oil disaster. But the company had the good sense to dump him, make peace with President Obama by ponying up $20 billion for a relief fund and start owning its mistakes -- mistakes that could cost BP up to $60 billion when all is said and done.

Contrast that with the way Chevron has handled the Ecuador disaster -- a disaster that wasn't an accident; that hasn't been cleaned; that started five decades ago, and the cost is only a fourth ($18 billion) of what BP will likely pay.

The Amazon Defense Coalition's recent press release compares the two disasters. See here

Says an Ecuadorian representative:

Once Chevron was found guilty and said it would never pay, Chevron became a fugitive from justice. Chevron CEO John Watson is creating a big problem for his company's shareholders because of his utter arrogance when it comes to Ecuador -- which is precisely the opposite reaction BP had with the Gulf disaster, where it is trying to deal with its obligations.

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Chevron’s Latest Deal: Backs Scratched, $Millions Made & Ecuadorians’ Rights Trashed

Read this recent press release by the Amazon Defense Coalition about Chevron’s kangaroo “judge” – Horacio Grigera Noan – who essentially is in the legal business with Chevron’s lawyer, R. Doak Bishop of the powerhouse law firm King & Spalding.

Horacio Grigera Noan

R. Doak Bishop

The press release explains in detail, but this is how it works:

As we’ve reported before, Chevron has turned to this clubby, chummy group of private arbitration lawyers who have instructed the Government of Ecuador to disregard its Constitution by telling the judiciary to block enforcement of the $18 billion judgment the Ecuadorian indigenous groups recently won against Chevron.

The Ecuador court has said thanks for your input, but we’re gonna abide by our Constitution, as well as international law. See here.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorians are justifiably upset with this development, but don't really think it matters at the end of the day. They have a legitimate judgment which they intend to enforce.

Yet, this clubby, chummy arbitration panel continues to meet and discuss why they think they have the authority to tell Ecuador courts what to do – at a price tag of at least $800 an hour per kangaroo and maybe more.

They have been known to make anywhere from $1 to $5 million depending how long they can drag out the cases. Chevron pays half. Guess who pays the rest: the Ecuadorian taxpayers.

Now, here’s where it gets even more interesting.

Chevron picks one of the kangaroos, right? Guess who is Chevron’s pick – Grigera Noan, who has partnered up with arbitration kingpin Bishop on at least five occasions. Of the five, three involved Ecuador, and Noan ruled against Ecuador every time.

There could be even more cases, but the arbitration process is very secretive; everything is done behind closed doors. So, no one really knows how many cases Bishop and Noan have banked.

But, as the press release points out, this back scratching is prohibited under arbitration rules, to the degree there are any.


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Check This Out!

Some must read blogs and articles (short and sweet):

Chevron: You Break it! You Fix it!

Chevron: How Low Can You Go?

AmericaBlog: Oil companies delay with hopes problems go away.


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Ecuador Appellate Court Says Ecuadorians’ Human Rights Take Precedent

Chevron’s secret arbitration panel has demanded that Ecuador do the oil giant’s bidding and stop enforcement of the $18 billion judgment against the company. Chevron has tried to convince journalists covering the case that the panel has the authority to tell another country’s court system what to do.

Prestigious international jurists have said nonsense. Human rights and trade groups in the U.S. have said nonsense.

Now the Ecuador court system has weighed in, too.

“A simple arbitration award, although it may bind Ecuador, cannot obligate Ecuador’s judges to violate the human rights of our citizens. That would not only run counter to the rights guaranteed by our Constitution, but would also violate the most important international obligations assumed by Ecuador in matters of human rights.”

“…this Division finds that no court in Ecuador has power or legal foundation that exceeds Article 11 of the Cassation Act on which to support the possibility of suspending the processing, hearing, or enforcement of any legal proceeding without incurring severe, even criminal, liability with respect to the parties.”

Exactly, and enough said.

Now watch a video that tells the true story about Chevron in Ecuador at www.chevrontoxico.com

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Shocking New Video Exposes Chevron's Crimes & Fraud In Ecuador

Take 15 minutes of your day and watch this shocking new video that exposes Chevron's crimes and fraud in Ecuador.

Chevron's lawyers, lobbyists, and public relations firms have tried everything to distract attention away from the suffering of the Ecuadorians who have been forced to live with the contamination Chevron left in the rainforest after exploring for oil from 1964 to 1990. Chevron has even accused the Ecuadorians of fraud in an attempt to turn its victims into criminals.

This video reminds us what the lawsuit is all about -- the families who have lost loved ones to cancer and other oil-related illnesses all because Chevron used the most inexpensive methods to extract oil to maximize its profits.

The True Story of Chevron's Ecuador Disaster from Amazon Watch on Vimeo.

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Chevron Says The Darndest Things

Actually They Are Pretty Shocking

During almost two decades of litigation against Chevron for the massive contamination of the Ecuador rainforest, the oil giant's spokespeople have said some of the darndest things.

When heard or read for the first time, they actually are pretty shocking, leading one to believe the company's executives are completely tone deaf.

They have so bought into their culture of corruption, they don't even recognize how outrageous or how shameful their words are.

Here are just a few for your reading astonishment.

“We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this – companies that have made big investments around the world.”

-- An unnamed Chevron lobbyist about the company's efforts to convince Congress and the U.S. Trade Representative to deny Ecuador U.S. trade preferences in retaliation for the environmental lawsuit, Newsweek

****

“We will fight this until hell freezes over. And then we’ll fight it out on the ice.”

-- Chevron spokesperson Donald Campbell to Global Post (We've got our skates on!)

****

“In the thousands of soil and water samples that we have taken in the Amazon, there has been no detection of any type of toxin that is not naturally occurring in the environment, and that is dangerous to human health or the environment."

"Oil is naturally occurring in the environment. It just depends where it is. I have makeup on, and there's naturally occurring oil on my face. Doesn't mean that I'm going to get sick from it."

-- Chevron lawyer Silvia Garrigo to 60 Minutes that reported the Ecuador court received over 60,000 contaminated soil and water samples, of which most Chevron itself submitted.

****

"We've done inspections. We've done a deep scientific analysis, and that analysis has shown no harmful impacts from the operations. There just aren't any."

-- A Chevron spokesperson to the New York Times.


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Prestigious Legal Experts Slam Chevron's Secretive Panel of Private Attorneys Who Seek to Kill $18 Billion Judgment

Prestigious international legal experts are demanding that the United Nations step in and end efforts by a secretive arbitration panel of private attorneys, with close ties to Chevron, to block enforcement of the $18 billion judgment against the oil giant.

Read this recent post on The Chevron Pit and by the Rainforest Action Network for details.

Calling the panel's actions a "travesty" and "misuse" of power, the letters reflect growing international support for the Ecuadorians who fought the company for 18 years to obtain the judgment, which will ensure a cleanup of the toxic brew Chevron left in the soil and water in the rainforest and will provide health care and clean drinking water for the residents. Chevron, who has refused to pay the judgment, sold all its assets in Ecuador, requiring the Ecuadorians to enforce the judgment in other countries where Chevron has assets. 

While the Ecuadorians do not believe that a legitimate court will recognize the panel's recent rulings, they are outraged that Chevron is being allowed to try and stop enforcement of the judgment in what they refer to as a "kangaroo court."

Below are excerpts from the letters and links to them. 

Letter from the Andean Commission of Jurists to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon  

"These communities recently obtained a legitimate and valid judgment in the court system of Ecuador that was chosen by Chevron as the venue for the litigation. Despite its previous stipulations to United States federal courts that it would respect any judgment from Ecuador, Chevron continues to use questionable litigation tactics to deny those injured any forum to seek justice and compensation for their injuries. The latest such tactic is the misuse by Chevron of ... an arbitration... to force Ecuador's government to violate international law and quash the human rights of its own citizens by essentially nullifying the result of their case after almost two decades of litigation." 

The Andean Commission, which has consulting status with the United Nations, is one of the leading human rights organizations in South America. Its board members include Diego Garcia-Sayan, the former Chief Justice of the Inter-American Human Rights Court; renowned investor-state arbitrator Pedro Nikken; and other distinguished jurists from Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

Letter from five prestigious international jurists to Renaud Sorieul, the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law 


"Allowing (arbitration) panels to determine recognition and enforcement issues in private litigation transforms them into venues of final appeal in a way that was never intended and offends the inherent trustworthiness of legal systems around the world to determine matters for themselves....(Treaty) panel awards ordering States to interfere in private judicial proceedings between different parties is a direct violation of well settled principles of sovereignty and, in this particular case, human rights under international law."

Letter from distinguished international law jurist Jose Daniel Amado to U.N. Secretary General Ki-moon


"Chevron has constructed what appears to be a calculated plan to manipulate a commercial investment dispute system to evade the outcome of a private litigation....(the panel) makes a travesty of the bilateral commercial treaty system...(and its rulings represent an) "illegal expansion of arbitral powers with wide-ranging implications for well-settled principles of international law, including fundamental human rights and state sovereignty."



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These Three Men Think They Have Power To Kill The Ecuadorians' Judgment Against Chevron

Here's Why They Can't: It's Against The Law

These three men

Horacio Grigeria Naon

Vaughan Lowe

V.V. Veeder

think they can demand that the Government of Ecuador instruct its judiciary system to protect the interests of this man, the CEO and Chairman of the Chevron Corporation,

Chevron CEO John Watson

by undoing an $18 billion judgment in Ecuador against his company for massive contamination of the rainforest.

They are private arbitration lawyers who belong to a secret club, called the Permanent Court of Arbitration, otherwise known as a "Kangaroo Court." See this blog by the Rainforest Action Network.

They pretend to be part of The Hague, but they aren't. They simply have office space there, and they mostly meet in rented hotel conference rooms in cities across the globe. The lawyers sometimes act as "judges" on the panel, but other times they represent their corporate clients, making millions of dollars on each case. It's a very chummy club with everybody rubbing everybody's back -- except the impoverished people who are often harmed by their actions.

Of late, they and other lawyers like them have been abusing provisions found in bilateral investment treaties between countries to protect many multinational corporations -- Chevron being the most recent. See this link at Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch web site for other examples.

Here's how it works: Countries sign investment treaties with provisions designed primarily -- or so the countries thought -- to encourage economic growth and create jobs for their citizens. Sometimes corporations doing business in a foreign country don't like the way they are being treated, so they have the ability under many of the treaties to file an arbitration claim against the foreign government for relief. Mostly the claims are about commercial disputes that go before these private arbitration lawyers tasked with resolving the problem.

In the Chevron case, though, it's about much, much more.

The oil giant has convinced the panel to take an unprecedented step: demand Ecuador violate its Constitution by interfering in its judiciary system. The arbitration lawyers, meeting this weekend in closed-door sessions in Washington, DC, have ordered Ecuador to block enforcement of the Ecuadorians' judgment -- a violation of not only Ecuador's Constitution but international law and long-standing human rights treaties. Chevron and Watson aren't stopping there, though. They want Ecuador to pay the judgment or even have the case dismissed altogether.

Imagine the White House telling the U.S. Supreme Court -- only a few blocks from where the arbitration lawyers are huddled this weekend -- to dismiss a recent ruling. That is why Chevron wants to happen in Ecuador.

The whole thing is a charade and mocks the justice that the Ecuadorians seek after having their lives, land, and water ruined with toxic poison during three decades of oil drilling and exploration by Chevron.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorians are not deterred. They are moving forward with their $18 billion judgment and are preparing to enforce soon in countries where Chevron has assets. Ecuador's government has ignored the panel's demand and is standing firmly behind the findings of its court system.

The Ecuadorians do not believe the findings of this kangaroo court will impact their ability to enforce in courtrooms, not in the control of a chummy, secret pack of expensive lawyers.

And, they have international experts from across the globe backing them up. See here and here . They have written the United Nations to protest that the arbitration's findings "offends ... legal systems" everywhere.

“Allowing (arbitration) panels to determine recognition and enforcement issues in private litigation transforms them into venues of final appeal in a way that was never intended and offends the inherent trustworthiness of legal systems around the world to determine matters for themselves,” they wrote.

Read this Courthouse News story for more details.

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Secret Arbitration "Club" Meets This Weekend In DC On Ecuador Case

After having lost on the merits in Ecuador and U.S. courts, Chevron has turned to a secret panel of private lawyers, nicknamed "The Club," to help the company avoid paying a dime of the $18 billion judgment against it for the deliberate poisoning of the rainforest.

Chevron is trying to use a controversial private enforcement process under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty that, in Chevron's mind, empowers the panel to direct a sovereign nation to interfere in its judiciary system.

In fact, the BIT, as it is known, seeks to protect the respective national court systems from interference.

The arbitration panel hearing Chevron's claim against Ecuador has no authority to suspend enforcement of or alter a judgment rendered by a sovereign country’s court system, as Chevron demands.

Yet, this closed-door panel will conduct hearings this Saturday and Sunday (February 11-12) in a rented room in Washington, DC, as if it did.

In many cases, critics say, these investor-state arbitrations are highly conflicted and are nothing more than opportunities for the secret "Club" members to make millions in fees.

Just this past January at the National Press Club, DC-based arbitration lawyer Gary Horlick has this to say before a Global Business Dialogue audience -- the club's trade association: "It’s (investor-state arbitrations) great for lawyers, believe me. The average legal fee ... is $3 million, so it is big business."

Big business indeed.

It gets even worse: club members rotate as lawyers representing clients and as panelists who issue rulings about claims. In one claim, a lawyer appears with his client. In another claim, he appears as a panelist before a lawyer who may have ruled his way on a previous panel.

You cannot attend nor can the Ecuadorians, who are locked out of hearings about their long and hard-fought battle against one of the most powerful and influential oil companies in the world. They are completely dependent upon the Ecuador government's lawyers to defend them.

They will have their voice heard, though, outside the hearings, where the Ecuadorians and their environmental supporters here in the U.S. will speak out against the proceedings on Friday, the day before the hearings, and on Saturday.

They will argue that no laws or treaties empowers a private tribunal to provide relief that would demand a sovereign nation interfere in its judiciary system, violating its Constitution as well as international and human rights laws.

Imagine what would happen if the White House directed the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse one of its decisions because an international tribunal declared it illegitimate. There’s no word to describe such an event because it would never happen in this country.

Public Citizen, Amazon Watch and the Rainforest Action Network are standing up to Chevron's kangaroo court by organizing the rally and conducting a Teach-In at American University about Chevron's abuse of the arbitration process.

We encourage all Chevron Pit readers in Washington, DC to attend:

Teach-In, February 9th, Thursday, 7-9 pm, American University: School of International Service Atrium, AW Main Campus, 4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington D.C., (202) 885-3264

Humberto Piaguage, Spokesperson for the Secoya Indigenous Organization of Ecuador and a representative of the Ecuadorians suing Chevron

Lori Wallach, Director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch Division

Aaron Page, Forum Nobis, PLLC, lawyer for Ecuadorians in U.S.

Rob Collier, Corporate Campaigns Director, Amazon Watch

Rally, February 10th, Friday, Noon, Organization of American States, Constitution Avenue & 17th St., NW, Washington D.C., (202) 458-3000



Visit Chevron Toxico.com to find out more. Become a follower of The Chevron Pit. Support Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network. Follow us on Twitter at @ChevronPit.

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Dead fish, health problems emerge as Chevron rig off Nigeria continues to burn after accident

The AP ran this horrific story yesterday about the devastating impact a Chevron natural gas rig fire is having on Nigerians. This is yet another example of Chevron's haphazard approach to oil exploration: Ecuador, Brazil and now Nigeria.  The entire story is below.  

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 6, 6:27 AM

LAGOS, Nigeria — The burning inferno of what used to be a Chevron Corp. natural gas rig still stains the night’s sky orange more than two weeks after the rig caught fire, and no one can say when it will end as swarms of dead fish surface.

The environmental damage is hitting a region whose poor still rely on the delta’s muddy waters for survival. A nearby clinic remains overrun with patients who are showing up with skin irritations and gastrointestinal problems.

“The community here has no other source of water apart from the river water, which on its own isn’t even safe enough to drink, but the pollution has made the water even worse,” said Dr. Oladipo Folorunso, the only doctor in the town of Ikebiri.

Folorunso attributes the illnesses to the burning rig, as rising temperatures in water can cause bacteria to thrive. A satellite image showed that the fire at a point was at least 1,340 degrees Fahrenheit (nearly 730 degrees Celsius), “hot enough to soften steel,” an independent watchdog group called SkyTruth said.

The fire began Jan. 16 from a shallow-water gas well for Chevron’s Nigerian subsidiary near its North Apoi oil platform. The accident killed two foreign workers and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage.

Chevron says it continues to investigate what started the fire but is not offering any estimate on how long it will burn.

Nigeria’s government believes a “gas kick” — a major buildup of gas pressure from drilling — was responsible, said Levi Ajuonoma, a spokesman for the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.

In Koluama 1, a community less than six miles (10 kilometers) from the fire, the traditional ruler says Chevron and the federal government are not doing enough to address the problem.

“We need the federal government to come in,” Jeremiah T. C. Leghemo said. “These relief materials are provided by Chevron because the state government prevailed on Chevron to provide them, but the people are suffering.”

Chevron said last week that it was moving “food and supplies to the communities in the area to recognize the help and support that they have given us.”

A report by local watchdog Environmental Rights Action said the area — home to tens of thousands of people — received 50 bags of rice, 50 bags of cassava flour, one cow, vegetable oil, palm and groundnut oil, cartons of tomatoes and canned drinks.

The federal government is still putting together help for the community, said Yushau Shuaib, spokesman for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency. He could not immediately say what the materials would include.

It also remains unclear when the fire will be put out. Chevron, based in San Ramon, California, has said that it would take 30 days to drill to total depth of 9,000 feet (2,740 meters) to create a relief well that would help put out the fire.

The company on Thursday said it had finished its drilling plans. When pressed to say how long it would take to extinguish the fire, the company declined to comment.

“We cannot predict how long the process will take, but what we can tell you is we will do so as quickly as possible while continuing to maintain safe operations,” the company said in a statement.

Critics say the situation around the burning rig is symptomatic of how the government that enjoys billions from oil sales fails to protect its people.

Foreign firms have pumped oil for more than 50 years out of the delta, a region of swamps, mangroves and creeks roughly the same size as South Carolina. Many in the delta remain desperately poor, living in polluted waters without access to proper medical care, education or work.

Nigerian regulators often fall back on international standards set by engineering and trade groups as a yardstick for safety measures, but the country’s institutionalized graft and mismanagement means oil companies largely answer only to themselves in safety matters.


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