Press Releases
Peru Proposes Opening Uncontacted Tribes’ Lands for Oil and Gas Drilling
Pluspetrol Begins Oil Exploration in Kugapakori Nahua Nanti Reserve for Camisea Gas Project
July 14, 2011 | Amazon Watch
Lima, Peru – Peru's Ministry of Culture has proposed new regulations that permit oil drilling and exploration inside reserved areas created to protect some of the planet's last "uncontacted tribes" – indigenous peoples who have chosen to avoid contact with the outside world. The proposal comes as Argentine oil company Pluspetrol begins expansion of the Camisea Gas Project inside the "Kugapakori Nahua Nanti Reserve for Isolated and Recently Contacted Peoples."More »
New Maple Energy Oil Spill in the Peruvian Amazon
Local indigenous peoples left to clean up with rags and buckets
July 13, 2011 | Amazon Watch, FECONBU
Contama, Loreto, Peru – A pipeline rupture in Maple Energy's Oil Block 31-E, 75 miles north of the city of Pucallpa, spilled crude oil into the Mashiria River, the primary source of drinking water and key fishing ground for the neighboring indigenous Shipibo community of Nuevo Sucre this past Sunday.More »
Corporate Polluters Close Rank Behind Chevron In Ecuador Case
Dow Chemical, Shell, and Dole File Legal Brief Designed To Help Chevron Evade Rainforest Clean-up Liability
June 13, 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition
New York, NY – Some of the world's most notorious polluters are closing rank behind Chevron to help the oil giant evade its legal obligation to clean-up billions of gallons of toxic waste dumped into the Amazon region of Ecuador, according to legal briefs filed before a New York appeals court.More »
Environmental Groups Line Up Against Chevron Over Company's Attempt to Block Ecuador Clean-up
EarthRights International Criticizes Chevron's "Gamesmanship" Before U.S. Federal Judge
June 11, 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition
New York, NY – In legal briefs, two prominent U.S. environmental law groups are criticizing Chevron's "unprecedented" attempt to use U.S. courts to try to block its legal obligation to pay clean-up costs in Ecuador for contaminating the Amazon rainforest.More »
Nine U.S. Law Professors Say Federal Judge Acted Improperly In Trying to Block Environmental Judgment Against Chevron
Injunction Shows "Judicial Arrogance" and Violates the Constitution, Says Bert Neuborne of New York University
June 28, 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition
New York, NY – Nine U.S. law professors, including a former member of the U.S. Congress, have joined numerous international law scholars in asking a U.S. appeals court to overturn the decision of a federal judge who claims he has worldwide authority to block a group of Ecuadorian citizens from enforcing their $18 billion judgment against Chevron.More »
Ecuador Government Criticizes U.S. Judge for Comments about Country's Court System
In Legal Brief, Government Urges Appeals Court to Dissolve Injunction over $18 Billion Chevron Judgment
June 20, 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition
New York, NY – Ecuador's government has taken the extraordinary step of asking a U.S. appeals court to rein in New York judge Lewis A. Kaplan for his "belittlement" of their country's court system and for mocking the Ecuadorian indigenous and farmer communities who recently won an $18 billion judgment against Chevron, according to legal papers filed recently in New York.More »
Belo Monte Dam May Lead Brazil to OAS High Court
Local communities and NGOs deliver petition exposing human rights violations to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
June 16, 2011 | Amazon Watch, International Rivers, MXVPS, AIDA
Brasilia, Brazil—Local communities and NGOs delivered a petition to the Organization of American States’ (OAS) human rights body today claiming that Brazil has steamrolled human rights in its rush to fast-track construction of the controversial Belo Monte Dam, slated for construction on the Xingu River in the Amazon interior. More »
International Law Scholars Say Attempt by U.S. Judge to Block $18 Billion Court Judgment Against Chevron "Unlawful" and "Futile"
Scholars Ask Appellate Court to Dissolve Order of Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
June 13, 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition
New York, NY – A group of 16 international law scholars have asked a federal appeals court in New York to overturn what they say is a U.S. trial court's "futile" and unlawful injunction that purports to prohibit foreign citizens from Ecuador from collecting an $18 billion judgment against Chevron in courts around the world.More »
U.S. Federal Judge Insults Ecuadorian Indigenous Plaintiffs Who Won $18 Billion Judgment Against Chevron
Legal Papers Ask for Removal of Lewis A. Kaplan Due to Inappropriate Comments, Apparent Bias Against Historic Lawsuit
June 7, 2011 | Amazon Defense Coalition
New York, NY – A U.S. federal judge in New York is questioning whether the Ecuadorian indigenous plaintiffs who for almost two decades have battled Chevron in one of the world's largest environmental litigations even exist, according to a legal brief asking an appellate panel to order the judge off a case involving the Ecuadorians because of his apparent bias against their lawsuit.More »
As Tensions Rise, Controversial Belo Monte Dam Faces New Legal Challenge
Federal Public Prosecutors allege 40% of social and environmental conditions have not been met by project consortium
June 7, 2011 | Amazon Watch, International Rivers, Movimento Xingu Vivo
Brasilia, Brazil – Last week's decision by IBAMA, Brazil's federal environmental agency, to grant a license allowing full-fledged construction on the controversial Belo Monte Dam Complex on the Xingu River has spurred a new wave of legal challenges and protests throughout Brazil.More »
