Dear cj,
On the topics of NWO power, national sovereignty, and human rights,
the following article should be of some interest.
-rkm
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** Topic: US Court Supports Texaco Policies **
** Written 4:09 PM Nov 18, 1996 by econet in cdp:headlines **
/* Written 1:39 PM Nov 15, 1996 by •••@••.••• in env.oil */
/* ---------- "U.S. Court Rejects Amazon Texaco Su" ---------- */
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK
For immediate release--November 14, 1996
Press contact:
Shannon •••@••.•••
Mark •••@••.•••
U.S. COURT SUPPORTS TEXACO'S
ENVIRONMENTAL RASCISM ABROAD
On November 13, the federal court of the Southern District of New York
rejected a $1.5 billion lawsuit against Texaco on behalf of 30,000
Ecuadorian Indians and farmers. The suit (Maria Aguinda et. al. v. Texaco)
represented a last hope for these plaintiffs to hold Texaco accountable and
an important potential precedent for foreign citizens injured by U.S.-based
transnational corporations.
In 1993, plaintiffs filed the suit in response to extensive environmental
and personal damages caused by Texaco's twenty-five years of operations in
the Amazon. Texaco turned over its operations to the Ecuadorian government
in 1992, leaving behind a legacy of environmental devastation which
included the spilling of 17 million gallons of crude oil spilled onto the
region's forests and waterways, the dumping of 20 billion gallons of toxic
wastewaters into the environment, creation of some 600 open toxic waste
pits, and the displacement of Cofan, Huaorani, Secoya, Siona, and Quichua
native communities. Although Texaco signed a remediation agreement with the
government of Ecuador in 1994, less than 25 per cent of the company's toxic
waste sites will be treated.
A broad-based coalition of indigenous people and farmers are mobilizing to
march on the Ecuadorian Attorney General's office demanding that the
government lend its support to the rejected lawsuit. The New York judge's
ruling was based largely on the insistence of Ecuador's prior government
that the suit be tried in Ecuador. If plaintiff's can convince the new
government to change this position, they have ten days to submit a request
for reconsideration to the court. The new government recently denounced
Texaco's superficial clean-up activities and may be inclined to support the
suit. "We have launched a boycott against Texaco," says Ecuadorian
environmentalist, Paulina Garzon. "Now is the time to look at our own
government. If it refuses to back these plaintiffs, it will be complicit
in Texaco's crimes."
"For decades Amazonian people have suffered the toxic consequences of
Texaco's environmental racism which has left their communities and
homelands polluted," according to Rainforest Action Network's Shannon
Wright. "This court decision just confirms for them that governments--both
the U.S. and Ecuadorian--side with the interest of corporations, and that
justice will only be reached through local only citizen mobilization."
Federal judge Rakoff's decision provides corporations with another powerful
weapon in defending their actions abroad from legal claims. Foreigner
plaintiffs like Maria Aguinda et. al., injured by U.S. corporations, often
have no other recourse but U.S. courts. Texaco, for instance, is immune
from lawsuits in Ecuador. While U.S. law strongly favors the principle
that plaintiffs should not be denied at least a potential remedy, U.S.
judges have wide discretion to accept or reject such cases. "For decades,
Texaco did as it pleased in Ecuador's rainforest," states Chris Jochnick,
Legal Director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights. "With this
decision, the company's impunity is nearly guaranteed."
###
________________________________________________________________________
Rainforest Action Network WWW site: http://www.ran.org
450 Sansome, Suite 700 General email: •••@••.•••
San Francisco, CA 94111 IGC news: rainfor.general, ran.news
Phone: (415) 398-4404 Gopher: gopher.ran.org:70/11/orgs/ran
Fax: (415) 398-2732 Automatic info return: •••@••.•••
** End of text from cdp:headlines **
***************************************************************************
This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking
service. For more information, send a message to •••@••.•••
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Posted by Richard K. Moore - •••@••.••• - Wexford, Ireland
Cyberlib: www | ftp --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore/cyberlib
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