The Nation | There are signs that Chevron has gone too far, and that relentlessly pursuing a human rights lawyer is damaging its international reputation. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is only the latest sign of concern and anger. Sixty-eight Nobel Laureates have shown their solidarity; another 475 lawyers and human rights defenders...
New York, NY – Today, judge Loretta Preska sentenced Steven Donziger to the maximum sentence of six months in federal prison for the petty misdemeanor contempt of court charges filed by judge Lewis Kaplan, a pro-Chevron former tobacco industry lawyer. The charges were prosecuted by corporate law firm Seward & Kissel, appointed by Kaplan himself...
"We are alarmed by human rights lawyer Steve Donziger's sentencing today. While the severity of Donziger's fate may seem unprecedented, it is emblematic of the larger trend of silencing activists, many of whom are fighting for the solutions desperately needed to combat the global climate crisis exacerbated by multinational fossil fuel companies,"...
Despite facing five decades of some of the world's worst oil-related contamination at the hands of Chevron and winning a historic 28-year legal battle that has yet to result in a clean up of its toxic legacy, Indigenous plaintiffs in the case are now under legal attack from its own government. In an effort to appease Chevron and court investors...
Slate | "It's scary going after a large corporation [and] it's scary going after governments because they have so much power and so much influence that they can do a lot of damage to someone's life," Raveson said. "If the lawyers who bring [environmental justice cases like Donziger's] are subject to biased determinations as to whether or not they should...
Chevron did not realize that in its persecution of Donziger it would mobilize tens of thousands to demand accountability against its pollution in Ecuador, and around the world. Last Friday, rallies calling for Donziger's immediate release took place in over a dozen cities including, New York, Los Angeles, Richmond, CA, Miami, San Antonio, Seattle...
San Ramon, CA – Chevron held its Annual General Meeting online once again, taking advantage of the opportunity to limit community engagement during the meeting. However, its CEO Mike Wirth did not succeed in curtailing scathing shareholder criticism from the Board of Directors. Instead, Chevron faced the most sweeping criticism for its actions in...
Tomorrow, May 26, will be Chevron's 11th shareholder meeting since the company lost a historic $9.5 billion judgement for deliberately polluting the Ecuadorian Amazon. Since then, many more Ecuadorians have gotten sick and died awaiting justice, as Chevron pulled its assets from Ecuador and waged a retaliatory legal assault. It spent well over a...
Oakland, CA – "Anti-Chevron Day" is a global day of action, every year on May 21, to remind the world of the impacts caused by the oil company in places such as the Ecuadorian Amazon, Myanmar, and the Bay Area. For the eighth consecutive year, a diverse coalition of groups calls upon the international community before Chevron's Annual General...
The Intercept | As activists strive to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for their role in the climate crisis, there is growing popular recognition of the significance of Chevron's aggressive legal campaign against the environmental lawyer. But for the third time in the epic legal battle stemming from the pollution, the legal proceedings took place without a...
"Too often Indigenous and frontline communities are denied the justice they deserve after racist fossil fuel pollution and corporate violence put their lives and livelihoods at risk," said Congresswoman Cori Bush. "Steven Donziger's successful lawsuit on behalf of Indigenous communities in Ecuador was a remarkable exception. His bravery and...
The Nation | Chevron's strategy could be backfiring. Over the past few months, a global movement has grown to defend Donziger and his Ecuadorean clients. Some 55 Nobel Prize winners signed a letter defending Donziger; 475 lawyers and human rights defenders released a similar appeal. A blue-ribbon legal Monitoring Committee is closely following Donziger's case;...
Esquire | Donziger is a human rights lawyer who, for more than 27 years, has represented the Indigenous peoples and rural farmers of Ecuador against Texaco – since acquired by Chevron – which was accused of dumping at least 16 billion gallons of toxic waste into the area of the Amazon rainforest in which they live. Cancer is now highly prevalent in the...
Democracy Now! | Decades of reckless oil drilling by Chevron have destroyed 1,700 square miles of land in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but the company has refused to pay for the damage or clean up the land despite losing a lawsuit ten years ago.
Mongabay | "I'm very happy because, finally, justice has been served. We're going to restore nature, for all the sick children, for the people, for the parents who have fought to stay healthy, for the families that have also kept fighting if only to grow a few crops, for the families who live under the flares and have had to abandon their land," says 10-year...
First, let’s acknowledge that it is extremely detrimental to the ongoing effort for justice for the people of Ecuador that the press routinely ignores that Chevron admitted to deliberately dumping over 16 billion gallons of toxic oil-waste into the Amazon as a cost-saving measure over the course of decades while operating under its Texaco brand...
Thirteen international human rights and environmental watchdog organizations sent an open letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking it to launch a high-level review of the retaliatory "SLAPP" lawsuits Chevron brought against the lawyer who helped 30,000 Indigenous peoples and farmer communities in Ecuador win a landmark $9.5 billion judgment...
February 14, 2011, was a monumental day in the history of environmental justice, corporate accountability, and human rights. This Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of an Ecuadorian court's groundbreaking judgment holding Chevron, one of the world's largest corporations, accountable for deliberate pollution in the Amazon. This civil court victory...
"As my physical world has shrunk, the online world has expanded by multiples of thousands. And once I get through this, I have no doubt that Chevron will be paying this judgment such that thousands of Indigenous people and rural communities will have a clean environment and thousands of lives will be saved. That's what this is ultimately about."
The Guardian | At a time when so many black Americans, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and white allies are protesting at systemic racism, we'd like to highlight a different story of marginalized people speaking truth to power on behalf of their most basic human rights. It's the story of how "big oil" is now using Harvey Weinstein-like destroy-the-accuser...
The Nation | In 2013 Donziger helped win a landmark legal case in Ecuador against Chevron for contaminating a vast stretch of rain forest in the Amazon headwaters larger than the state of Rhode Island. The Ecuadorean courts awarded the 30,000 plaintiffs, who are poor rural farmers and indigenous people, $9.5 billion to clean up the damage. Instead of obeying...
"Steven Donziger is being criminally prosecuted not only for his advocacy but by the very targets of his advocacy. Chevron has not merely sued its adversary; it is pulling the strings of a criminal prosecution. That the prosecutor of Chevron's nemesis is Chevron's former law firm not only undermines confidence in the prosecutor's impartiality; it...
The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have catalyzed a seismic and long-overdue shift in support for the Movement for Black Lives and to defund the police. At the same time, the climate justice movement has finally begun to gain momentum because of the increasing recognition that overcoming our environmental crisis requires addressing and...
Chevron's annual shareholder's meeting took place online this year due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Ironically, by holding a virtual meeting, Chevron opened itself up to greater participation in what is usually a closed-door ticketed event. Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams and world-renowned actor and producer Alec Baldwin both stood...
After an immense legal battle – twenty long years – with the multinational fossil fuel giant, Donziger was successful in helping the Indigenous people of the region win a massive $9.5 billion judgment. This is the largest known amount in damages in an environmental case from a trial. The funds were awarded to remediate decades of toxic...
The Investor Eye on the Amazon newsletter serves as a resource for socially-responsible investors, industry analysts, and researchers looking to better understand the risks associated with financing climate-damaging industries in the Amazon, and what they can do to protect the region.
The Guardian | Twenty-nine Nobel laureates have condemned alleged "judicial harassment" by Chevron and urged the release of a US environmental lawyer who was put under house arrest for pursuing oil-spill compensation claims on behalf of Indigenous tribes in the Amazon.
We must stand together to call for justice for Ecuadorians, because if we do, corporations like Chevron will never win. We know Chevron's ultimate goal is to divide and conquer, but this growing upswell of support from celebrities, Nobel laureates, and international activists affirms that Ecuadorians are not alone in their pursuit for justice.
Courthouse News Service | "Environmental activism in many countries results in murder," the petition from the prize winners states. "Chevron's strategy is death by a thousand cuts through the manipulation of a legal system it has managed to stack in its favor. Its goal is to intimidate and disempower the victims of its pollution and a lawyer who has worked for decades on...
