Court Affidavit Exposes 18 Years of Chevron's Unethical Conduct in $9.5 Billion Ecuador Lawsuit
Oil Giant Attempted to "Buy or Bully" Its Way Out of Environmental Liability for Creating "Amazon Chernobyl"
Amazon Defense Coalition
Amazon Defense Coalition
7 March 2011 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Paz y Miño: +1 510.281.9020 x302, paz@amazonwatch.org
Note: This press release contains an updated amount in the judgment award, from $8.6 billion to $9.5 billion,
which includes the 10 percent awarded to the Amazon Defense Coalition.
New York, NY – A new 42-page sworn affidavit, backed by hundreds of pages of exhibits, has outlined in stunning detail Chevron's 18-year effort to undermine the Ecuador court that recently awarded a $9.5 billion judgment against the company for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest of the South American nation and creating what locals call the "Amazon Chernobyl".
"After decades of exploiting the country and wielding its influence like a club as it extracted riches from the Napo Concession, Chevron believed it could use that same power to buy or bully its way to a swift dismissal of this case, or, at the very least, to delay the day of reckoning indefinitely," wrote Ecuadorian attorney Juan Pablo Saenz in his declaration to U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District Court of New York (SDNY).
The declaration was filed in opposition to extortion charges filed by Chevron in New York against the Ecuadorian citizens bringing the lawsuit, and their lawyers and advisors. The charges are part of a flurry of legal activity launched by the oil giant to try to block enforcement of a judgment based on the overwhelming scientific evidence of contamination caused by the company's actions, according to legal papers filed by the plaintiffs.
Chevron's allegations are particularly ironic given that the company is seeking relief from the same U.S. court that it asked to send the case to Ecuador in 2002, claiming at the time the South American nation was a more appropriate venue for the trial.
"Chevron's attempts to portray itself as the ‘victim' ... are an insult to Your Honor's intelligence," said Saenz. "In light of the history of this case, Chevron's latest move in its game of jurisdictional musical chairs is a slap in the face to both the Ecuadorian and United States judicial systems."
Saenz quoted from 14 affidavits Chevron submitted in the 1990s to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff praising Ecuador's judicial system. The affidavits were used a basis to send the case to Ecuador over the objections of the plaintiffs, who filed it in the U.S. The trial was re-filed in Lago Agrio, a jungle town in the epicenter of a large oil concession that Chevron's predecessor company Texaco operated from 1964 to 1990.
The lawsuit accuses the oil giant of deliberately and unlawfully discharging more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways, decimating indigenous groups and poisoning an area the size of Rhode Island with what experts believe is the worst oil-related contamination on the planet. It also accuses the company of committing a sham remediation in the 1990s and other acts of fraud to cover up its misconduct. The magnitude of the dumping dwarfs the size of the BP Gulf spill, according to the plaintiffs.
An Ecuadorian court, after an arduous eight-year trial hampered by Chevron's delay tactics, found on Feb. 14 that that the oil giant was guilty and ordered it to pay approximately $9.5 billion to remediate the damage. Both sides have appealed the decision, with the plaintiffs claiming the amount is too low to provide adequate compensation in light of BP's estimated liability of $60b to $100b for the Gulf spill.
"It is crystal clear that Chevron wanted this case to be heard in Ecuador because it believed that the Ecuadorian judiciary was too weak to handle these claims," wrote Saenz in his affidavit.
It was only when the Ecuadorian judiciary proved more independent than Chevron expected that the company did an about-face and started to attack Ecuador's courts.
While Chevron argues the court system in Ecuador has become politicized since the election in 2007 of President Rafael Correa, the reality is that Ecuador's judicial system in 2010 posted the same ratings by both the U.S. State Department and international organizations that it did in 2001 when Chevron was arguing the system in Ecuador was fair and adequate.
"In other words," Saenz said, "corruption is now less of an issue in Ecuador than it was back in 2001, when Chevron seemed to like the country."
In his declaration, Saenz summarized some of Chevron's gamesmanship and misconduct over a span of almost 18 years since the filing of the action in 1993 – including attempts to delay and derail the case, tamper with evidence and inappropriately influence Ecuador's government and the United States government to intervene on its side. For example: