ChevronInEcuador.com | Besides being "a slap in the face" of the Ecuadorian victims of Chevron's abuses, the recent ruling by Judge Kaplan also seems like an extraordinary abuse of power. The job of determining whether a particular sector of the economy or individual industry demands extraordinary legal protection belongs to Congress, not the courts.
Eye on the Amazon
Chevron's Human Rights Hitmen
SFGate City Brights | After more than seventeen years of intense legal battle, last month, Chevron, the second largest oil company in the United States, was found guilty in Ecuadorian courts for massive environmental contamination of the Amazon and was ordered to pay upwards of $9 billion in damages. This morning I was on KQED's Forum radio program discussing this...
Peru's Battle for "Independence"
As Peru systematically opens up its Amazon to oil and gas drilling, Amazon Watch is standing with many indigenous communities as they proclaim, "not in our territory!" But in cases where oil operations do proceed in these fragile rainforests, the question emerges how can the affected communities themselves monitor the environmental, social, and...
Chevron's Dirty Laundry
Multinational corporations like Chevron are experts at maintaining a veneer of gentility and levelheaded reason. They have to be, of course; when you wreak as much havoc as Chevron does on lives, communities and ecosystems around the world, the only way not to invite universal public disgust and condemnation is to make sure the people who are your...
Chevron Found Guilty In Amazon Pollution Case
SFGate City Brights | On Monday, after 17 years of intense legal battle, Chevron, the second largest oil company in the United States, was found guilty by Ecuadorian courts for massive environmental contamination of the Amazon and was ordered to pay a fine of $9 billion in damages. This represents the largest judgment ever against a U.S company for environmental...
Over 600,000 Petitions Delivered to Brazilian Government This Week
If you are one of over 600,00 people who signed the global petition to stop the Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian Amazon, you should know that your signature didn't get lost in cyberspace somewhere. It was delivered to the Brazilian government on Tuesday afternoon here in Brasilia by a delegation of indigenous and community leaders from the Xingu...
Chevron Adds Insult to Injury in the Amazon
SFGate City Brights | It is hard to know what to make of such a patently absurd and egregious insult as this; Big Oil suing the victims of their contamination. Chevron is pouring ghastly sums of money into a scorched-earth legal and public relations strategy designed, essentially, to destroy the hopes of the plaintiffs.
Brazilian Version Released of the Google Earth Animation on the Belo Monte Monster Dam
Today, a Brazilian version of the powerful 3-D Google Earth video about the Belo Monte Monster Dam was released. Narrated in Portuguese by Brazilian actor Dira Paes, the video will take you on a breathtaking tour of the Xingu River Basin and show you what will happen if this monstrous Belo Monte dam is built.
"Hero" Lawyer Pablo Fajardo on Taking on Chevron in Ecuador
The Harvard International Law Journal recently published a thoughtful article by Pablo Fajardo, the acclaimed human rights activist and lead counsel for the 30,000 indigenous people and farmers of the Ecuadorian Amazon working to hold American oil giant Chevron (formerly Texaco) accountable for what he calls "serious violations against the...
