Lima, Peru — As finance ministers from 46 member countries of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) arrive for the Bank’s annual meeting in Peru this week, hundreds of civil society organizations from throughout the continent join their Peruvian counterparts calling attention to the Bank’s failing social and environ
Corporate Accountability
Protesters Make Plea to Oil Giant
Contra CostaTimes | Protesters were scheduled to kick off the monthly Days of Action rallies Wednesday night in San Ramon, where the theme of the St.
NGO Letter to the IDB highligting failures to comply with required loan condtions
The following is the text of a joint letter sent to the IDB on March 11 by international NGOs urging delay of the signing of the Camisea loan agreement. The letter details concerns raised by leading Peruvian indigenous and environmetnal organizations about the Camisea gas project.
New President of Ecuadorian Superior Court Appointed to Preside over ChevronTexaco Case in Amazon Region. The People Affected by Texaco are hopeful with the New President
The people affected by the oil operations of Texaco are confident that the changing of the President of the Superior Court of Lago Agrio will not stop the process that was initiated under the predecessor on the lawsuit against ChevronTexaco.
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
In Ecuador, Taking an Oil Giant to Task
International Herald Tribune | EcuadorNew York - Drilling for oil without adequate safeguards is one of the most destructive processes to man and the environment. This fact has been particularly apparent in the Ecuadorean area of the Amazon basin, where Texaco - which later merged with Chevron - drilled for oil from 1964 through 1992.
Rabbi's Heartbreaking Visit to Amazon Bears Witness to Rainforest Ruin
J, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California | Rabbi Dan Goldblatt returned from Ecuador recently, and what he saw therenearly broke his heart.The spiritual leader of the independent Beth Chaim Congregation in Danvilleand a longtime environmental activist, Goldblatt did not go as a tourist.
Fighting Goliath Ecuadoreans Seek Billions from ChevronTexaco in a Widely Watched Environmental Justice Case
San Francisco Bay Guardian | In an environmental justice lawsuit with major international implications, ChevronTexaco is battling plaintiffs representing 30,000 residents of northeastern Ecuador who claim they were harmed by the toxic mess the San Ramon-based oil giant left in their communities. The case, Aguinda v.
Religious Leaders Blast Oil Cleanup in Ecuador
Contra Costa Times | Pleasant Hill - Three community leaders have returned from a visit to Ecuador, and Wednesday night they showed pictures from their trip of oil-slicked rivers and sludge-filled pits.ChevronTexaco paid $40 million to clean up the spilled and dumped waste it left behind when it pulled out of the Amazon in 1992, but the pe
The Hunt for Black Gold Leaves a Stain in Ecuador; As ChevronTexaco Faces a Major Lawsuit, Evidence Portrays a Company and a Nation that for Years Showed Little Concern for the Environment
Los Angeles Times | Lago Agrio, EcuadorWhen Texaco contractors showed up at Monica Torres' wood shack in the jungle, they said they had come to clean up the mess the company had left behind.A pool of black oil sludge sat like a tar pit in her backyard, dumped by the company years earlier while drilling nearby.
Victory for Peru’s Nahua People as Oil Development is Removed from their Territories
The Nahua, an indigenous people in initial contact with the outside world, have learnt that plans for oil exploration in their territories adjacent to the controversial Camisea Gas Project in Peru’s remote southeastern Amazon, have been abandoned in the face of strong local and international condemnation.
Chevron Would Face $5 Billion Tab for Amazon Cleanup, Expert Says--Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal | Lago Agrio, Ecuador - Cleaning up toxic wastes in the Ecuadorean Amazon region could cost ChevronTexaco Corp. more than $5 billion and take as long as 10 years, according to a U.S. expert advising the plaintiffs in a lawsuit being tried in this ramshackle, frontier oil town.
Damage Estimate in Ecuador Lawsuit Mounts to $6 Billion
Los Angeles Times | A new study says the environmental cost of Texaco's oil drilling is higher than thought.Bogota, Colombia — Lawyers for about 30,000 Ecuadoreans suing ChevronTexaco Corp.
Scientist Recommends Petroecuador Face Pollution Trial
Associated Press | Lago Agrio, Ecuador - A Spanish scientist working with plaintiffs in a lawsuit accusing Texaco of polluting part of Ecuador's Amazon jungle said Wednesday that the company's former partner – state-owned Petroecuador – should also face trial.
Delegation of East Bay Religious and Labor Leaders to Travel to Ecuador to Witness ChevronTexaco’s Oil Damage in Amazon Rainforest
Mission to Coincide with Presiding Judge’s Visits to Oil Fields in Historic Environmental Trial against the Oil Giant in EcuadorPart of Expanding Exchange between Ecuadorian Indigenous Communities and East Bay Residents Concerned about ChevronTexaco’s OperationsInterviews, Video footage, high-resolution digi
Testimony Ends in Oil Giant's Ecuador Trial
Sacramento Bee | Lago Agrio, Ecuador - Testimony in the oil pollution trial of ChevronTexaco came to a close Wednesday with a spectacular pre-dawn lightning storm capping three days of sometimes explosive evidence.The final stretch of this weeklong trial included testimony from a former minister of Ecuador's Ministry of Mines and Energ
Oil Major Forced to Answer Amazon Charge of Damaging the Environment
Financial Times | On the fourth floor of a rundown building in a small town in Ecuador, a courtroom has been freshly painted and newly furnished.The decision being taken in this nondescript building will have far-reaching repercussions for the oil industry and developing nations where oil companies have long operated.It is Judge
The Week of Truth for ChevronTexaco. Testimonies Continue, Remediation Costs are Presented and the Plaintiffs Mobilize. Bianca Jagger, international human rights leader, returns to Ecuador to show her support for the people affected by ChevronTexaco
The Week of Truth for ChevronTexaco begins today in the Superior Court of Lago Agrio.The lawyers for the plaintiffs suing ChevronTexaco will be available three times a day to inform the press of what will be presented each day and what occurred throughout the day; at 8am at the Grand Hotel of Lago, at noon in front of
Ex-Energy Minister Says Texaco Knew it was Polluting Amazon
San Francisco Chronicle | Texaco knew it was damaging the environment when it launched operations in the Amazon jungle three decades ago, a former energy minister testified Monday in a civil trial against California-based ChevronTexaco. Retired army Gen.
Summary of most recent and complete study of Texaco’s Operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon Conducted by Petroecuador and Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia
This study was conducted to show the reality of life in the Amazon due to the contamination from oil camps and wells operated by Texaco. From this study, it is known that of the 1,017 families visited 957 are affected, 57 are not, and 3 famiies did not respond due to lack of information on the subject.
Texaco Goes on Trial in Ecuador Pollution Case
The New York Times | Lago Agrio, Ecuador - When René Arévalo draws water from his well, it is brown and gummy, requiring him to run it through a makeshift filtering system outside his wood-plank home in the jungle outside this town.Like thousands of other people here, he suspects the water was fouled by the waste an American oil company
Showdown in the Ecuadoran Jungle - Rare Class-Action Pollution Trial Pits Indians Against U.S. Oil Company
Washington Post Foreign Service | Lago Agrio, Ecuador - Under a warm setting sun, a half dozen children gathered Tuesday around a plastic tub filling with water from a tube snaking from the ground.
At Last, ChevronTexaco’s Cover-Up about Remediation is Scientifically Confirmed New Study by Plaintiffs Proves that Each One of the 207 Waste Pits “Cleaned Up” Contains Petroleum The 1,200-Page Study to be Presented Today in Court
Lago Agrio — As part of the new study, researchers drilled to depths of 3 meters en each of the 207 waste pits that supposedly cleaned up by Texaco.
Ecuadorans Put Chevron on Trial Company Accused in Class-Action Lawsuit of Despoiling Amazon Region with Crude
San Francisco Chronicle | A class-action lawsuit against oil giant ChevronTexaco opened today in a small, cinderblock courthouse in a frontier oil town in the Ecuadorian rainforest, charging the company with despoiling the environment with millions of gallons of spilled crude oil during the 1970s and '80s.
Historic Trial Against ChevronTexaco Begins Tomorrow in Ecuador; Protests at Company’s Headquarters in California
30,000 Rainforest Peoples Against The Company, Demanding A Full Cleanup of Extensive Pollution In Ecuadorian AmazonFirst Time U.S.
Speech by Bianca Jagger in Quito Following Her Tour of Amazon Region Contaminated by ChevronTexaco
(version en espanol sigue ingles)Welcome and thank you for coming. I am going to talk about what I have witnessed in the last few days in the Ecuadorian Amazon during my first trip to your beautiful country.
Bianca Jagger Promotes Lawsuit Against ChevronTexaco in Ecuador
By Associated Press | Quito, Ecuador - Celebrity activist Bianca Jagger criticized U.S. oil company ChevronTexaco, which is being sued by a group of poor Ecuadoreans who say the company's past drilling damaged their rainforest homeland.The plaintiffs, represented by U.S.
Environmental “Trial of Century” Pits 50,000 Ecuadorian Rainforest People Against ChevronTexaco… Bianca Jagger To Visit Amazon Rainforest In Ecuador Case of Rainforest Peoples Against ChevronTexaco To Begin Oct. 21 In Lago Agrio, Sucumbios First
New York, NY and Lago Agrio, Ecuador - International human rights advocate Bianca Jagger will arrive in Ecuador this week to begin a historic tour of the Amazon jungle only two weeks before the start of a landmark trial in Lago Agrio where rainforest peoples are seeking to force ChevronTexaco to clean up the environmental con
El “Juicio Ambiental del Siglo” Enfrenta a 50.000 Habitantes del Oriente Contra ChevronTexaco… Bianca Jagger Visita la Selva Amazónica del Ecuador en la Víspera del Histórico Juicio Multimillonario El caso de los habitantes del Oriente contra C
Nueva York, NY (Estados Unidos) y Lago Agrio, Ecuador - La líder de los derechos humanos internacionales Bianca Jagger llegará al Ecuador esta semana para dar inicio a una histórica recorrida por la selva amazónica apenas dos semanas antes del comienzo del juicio sin precedentes a celebrarse en Lago Agrio, donde los habi
