Wednesday, September 23rd 2009
“The Ecuadorean judge who stepped down from a $27 billion environmental lawsuit against Chevron Corp. after the company accused him of bias should remain in charge of the case, a court in Ecuador ruled.
A request by Judge Juan Nunez to recuse himself from the Chevron lawsuit was “unfounded,” Judge Nicolas Zambrano said in a ruling yesterday. Like Nunez, Zambrano sits on the Nueva Loja Superior Court in Ecuador’s northeastern Sucumbios province.”
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Wednesday, September 23rd 2009
Amazon Defense Coalition spokesperson Karen Hinton has admitted that several accusations made in a recent press release are false.
On Sept. 9, Hinton issued a press release on behalf of the Amazon Defense Coalition accusing Wayne Hansen, one of the individuals who videotaped meetings in Ecuador between himself, Judge Juan Nunez and other purported political operatives discussing how Chevron will lose the trial and any subsequent appeals, of having a past relationship with Chevron. Chevron had previously stated that Hansen had no ties to the company.
Despite that, the press release headline stated, “American Businessman Wayne Hansen Has Ties to Chevron in Bribery Scheme, Investigation Finds.” The release claimed the Amazon Defense Coalition had found several pieces of “evidence,” gathered in an “investigation” that proved a link between Chevron and Hansen.
Hinton has since admitted that her “investigation” was little more than an internet search, which turned up information that was completely wrong. She confirmed the errors in a recent interview with Upstream, an energy industry publication:
“Apparently that’s not him,” Hinton admitted to the reporter
The Upstream article continued: “When asked if she (Hinton) had any proof of a link she replied: ‘No, not at this point.’”
The story also said, “Karen Hinton said she had found information about a Wayne Hansen on the internet and had not independently verified it before making the claim.”
Several Amazon Defense Coalition claims made by Hinton in the September 9th release have been debunked by independent news outlets. These claims include:
• Hansen is “connected to a consulting firm that lists Chevron as a client”
• “Chevron’s ties to Hansen directly contradict repeated assertions by Chevron lawyers and spokespersons that the company has no relationship to the American businessman,” said Karen Hinton — A statement known to be false.
• “Hansen’s biography obtained on the Internet identifies him as the former Chief Mechanical Engineer and Director of Energy Engineering at RJM Associates, which lists Chevron as a client.” — Another error. Hinton had the wrong person.
In a September 10 piece by San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer David Baker, the journalist once again disproves Hinton’s accusations. An excerpt from the story is found below:
“The coalition said Hansen used to work for Richard J. Miller & Associates, a California oil-field appraisal firm that lists Chevron as one of its clients. But the firm’s owner, Richard Miller, said no one named Wayne Hansen had worked there. ‘We’ve been a one-man shop since 1990,’ he said.”
Numerous other claims levied by Hinton and the Amazon Defense Coalition against Chevron have also been proven to be false. The Amazon Defense Coalition’s bungled “investigation” once again calls into question their credibility.
Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
Petroecuador, Ecuador’s state-owned oil company, which has a record of environmental mismanagement, continues to drill wells and dig new waste oil pits in the concession area developed in a consortium with Texaco Petroleum.
New information reveals that Petroecuador has drilled more than 400 new wells in the concession area since it took over operations in 1990 – more wells than it drilled in the consortium with Texaco Petroleum between 1972 and 1990. Petroecuador has also dug more than 270 pits in the last 3 years alone.
While activist groups and the plaintiffs’ attorneys in the lawsuit against Chevron claim their desire is to have environmental damage in the Amazon remediated, they have failed to pursue Petroecuador for its responsibilities. They have even opposed Petroecuador’s efforts to remediate pits, fearing such actions might compromise their lawsuit. In fact, the plaintiffs’ local attorney, Pablo Fajardo, was quoted in an interview with La Hora on October 20, 2006 demanding that Petroecuador stop its remediation claiming it was altering his case.
Petroecuador has realized more than $70 billion in revenues over the course of its operations. Very little of those funds have been reinvested to maintain their equipment to prevent spills and remediate pits, or to help the local communities. Instead most of the profits went to the government and toward drilling new wells.
Since it took over operations in 1990, Petroecuador has:
• Been responsible for more than 1,400 spills between 2000 and 2008
• Spilled over 4.4 million gallons of oil
• Admitted it needs to clean up 370 consortia era pits in the concession
View a photo gallery or watch a video of Petroecuador’s environmental mismanagement.
Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
“San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron released the e-mails earlier this month, saying that they outlined instructions to two businessmen – one from Ecuador and one from the U.S. – for the payment of a $3 million bribe to ruling party officials in exchange for a government contract to do clean-up in Ecuador’s Lago Agrio region. Such a contract would only be needed if the court rules against Chevron in the decades-long, multibillion-dollar litigation over contamination from oil production in the Amazon.”
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Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
“Ecuador’s national assembly is debating a bill that would give President Rafael Correa’s government — which recently trumpeted the creation of “revolutionary defense committees” that opponents call Cuban-style organs for spying on citizens — control over even private media content.”
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Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
“Ecuador closed a television station accused of espionage last month and Bolivia also has closed media outlets. Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner also recently proposed a law to break up Grupo Clarin, a media conglomerate, calling it a monopoly that has been abusing its power in Argentine politics.”
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Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
“The Ecuadoran and Colombian foreign ministers will meet in New York Tuesday, the two countries’ first official meeting since they broke diplomatic ties in March 2008, the Ecuadorian government said Monday.”
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Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
“”The quality of Ecuadorean crude is appropriate for Enap refineries, especially for the Coker complex inaugurated in July 2008 at the Aconcagua refinery,” said Enap general manager Rodrigo Azocar.”
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Monday, September 21st 2009
“The Ecuador government formally resumed control of Manta, a military base on its Pacific coast, 10 years after was leased, rent-free, to the US military for anti-drug operations.”
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Monday, September 21st 2009
“The last 15 U.S. troops left Ecuador’s Pacific Manta air base on Friday, officially closing the U.S. military post in what Ecuador’s government calls a recovery of sovereignty.”
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Monday, September 21st 2009
“Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has been diagnosed of fibrosis in the joint of one of his knees after a medical check-up in Havana, said the president’s office on Friday.”
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Monday, September 21st 2009
“Ecuador’s Mines and Petroleum Minister Germanico Pinto urged the French oil company Perenco to resume production on Friday.”
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Monday, September 21st 2009
“When Ecuador last year instituted free health care, it wasn’t the first time a government there proclaimed a commitment to some form of universal coverage. Previous governments have also made ambitious promises. But the on-the-ground reality has never matched what is on the books, experts say.”
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Friday, September 18th 2009
“The socialist government has a troubled relationship with foreign investors, punctuated by tax and other legal disputes.”
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Friday, September 18th 2009
“The government had defaulted on the bonds earlier, calling them “illegal” and “illegitimate.” Debt analysts point out that the government had the funds to service the bonds.”
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Friday, September 18th 2009
“Ecuador’s tax collections rose 12% to $4.53 billion between January and August from $4.06 billion a year earlier, the nation’s Internal Revenue Service, or the SRI, said.”
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Tuesday, September 15th 2009
“A week ago Chevron was raising its arms in triumph after the presiding judge, Juan Nuñez, recused himself. Though the judge claimed he’d done nothing wrong, he acted days after Chevron posted a secretly recorded video to its Web site in which Nuñez seemed to acknowledge he already decided to rule against the company even though the trial hadn’t ended. A second recording allegedly showed a member of the country’s ruling party soliciting bribes in exchange for remediation contracts to be awarded after the verdict.”
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Tuesday, September 15th 2009
“Judge Nunez is biased and has engaged in improper behavior while presiding over this case,” said Chevron in its annulment filing.”
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Tuesday, September 15th 2009
“The bill is aimed at increasing control over content – including editorials – published by public and private media outlets, Reuters adds.”
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Tuesday, September 15th 2009
“”Chevron catches judge bribery scheme on tape.” The pathetic part is, when first I read the headline, I thought it was a story that took place in the U.S.A.”
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