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See also other materials on "Indigenous peoples"

examples of lawsuits:

BHP mine in Papua New Guinea:

• Chronology of OK Tedi case [BHP mine in Papua New Guinea] (Slater & Gordon, solicitors for plaintiffs)

• 500 PNG clans join Ok Tedi suit against BHP (Barry Fitzgerald, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 2000)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: Ok Tedi 2 (Slater and Gordon, solicitors for plaintiffs, 11 Apr. 2000) 

• comments by Broken Hill Proprietary: Legal Action on Ok Tedi Misconceived: BHP (BHP, 11 Apr. 2000)

• Writ lodged over BHP Ok Tedi mine (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 11 Apr. 2000)

• BHP's Big Mining Mess (Danny Kennedy, Multinational Monitor, Apr. 2000)

• World Bank echoes calls for Ok Tedi closure (Mineral Policy Institute, 7 Mar. 2000) 

• Statement by Papua New Guinea groups on Ok Tedi (August 1999)

• One of World's Worst Mine Disasters Gets Worse (Mineral Policy Center, Mining Watch Canada, Mine Watch UK, 11 Aug. 1999)

• Abstract: The Ok Tedi Settlement: Issues, Outcomes and Implications (Glenn Banks and Chris Ballard, 1997)

• OK Tedi Truce (Mining Monitor, vol. 1, no. 3, 1996)

• Cleaning up Ok Tedi: Settlement Favors Yonggom People (Stuart Kirsch, Journal of the International Institute, vol. 4, no. 1, fall 1996) 

BP: case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in U.S. state of Alaska: 

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: Inupiat Eskimos and Greenpeace go to court to challenge BP Amoco oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean (Greenpeace, Oct. 1999)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: Greenpeace, Inupiat Eskimos Launch Court Challenge Against BP Amoco's Arctic Oil Drilling [update] (Greenpeace USA, 30 Mar. 2000)

• comments by BP: Northstar and the Native community (BP)

Texaco (now ChevronTexaco): case in U.S. court regarding the company's conduct in Ecuador:

• Amazon Indians lose appeal of Texaco case ruling - Rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru have lost an appeal aimed at reinstating nine-year-old litigation against Texaco, alleging that toxic dumping devastated their environment and exposed residents to cancer-causing pollutants. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed a trial court's ruling dismissing two class-action lawsuits on grounds that the United States was not the proper place for the litigation, and that Ecuador would be a more convenient location. (Gail Appleson, Reuters, 21 Aug. 2002)

• {···français} Un pipe-line sème maladies et pollutions en Amazonie - En Équateur, l’oléoduc «El sote» est une catastrophe de 500 kilomètres de long. Gigantesque serpent de métal, le Système d’oléoduc transéquatorien (SOTE) a été construit dans les années septante sous l’impulsion de la Texaco. Depuis 1993, la compagnie américaine est poursuivie en justice par les communautés amérindiennes de l’Équateur, mais aussi du Pérou, pour pollution grave de la forêt amazonienne. Le verdict sera rendu cet automne. (Le Courrier [Genève], 9 août 2002)

• {···español} Instancia decisiva en litigio con la Texaco [Ecuador]: La justicia de Estados Unidos deberá fallar esta semana sobre la procedencia de una demanda iniciada en 1993 por indígenas de Ecuador contra la compañía petrolera ChevronTexaco, a la que acusan de contaminar la selva amazónica. (Danielle Knight, Inter Press Service, in La Hora [Ecuador], 17 marzo 2002)  

• Ecuador, Defending the Amazon (Peter Lippman, The Advocacy Project, Feb. 2002)

  chapters include:

  • Legal Issues: The Right to Consultation and the Texaco Lawsuit
   
• Ecuador Amazon Indians appeal Texaco-case ruling: Rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru urged a U.S. appeals court to reinstate nine-year-old litigation against Texaco, alleging that toxic dumping devastated their environment and exposed residents to cancer-causing pollutants (Gail Appleson, Reuters, 13 Mar. 2002)

• Rainforest Indians [from Ecuador] in New York for major showdown with Chevron-Texaco: Billions at stake as tribal leaders press groundbreaking lawsuit before Appeals Court - Assert Texaco ruined their rivers and land, destroying their centuries-old way of life...and dramatically increased the risk of cancer for tens of thousands of people. (Frente para la Defensa de la Amazonia, 11 Mar. 2002)

• {···español} TC define caso Texaco [Ecuador]: La suerte del juicio que los colonos e indígenas amazónicos plantearon en contra de la petrolera Texaco desde 1993 por perjuicios al medio ambiente en una corte de la ciudad de Nueva York, se definirá en los próximos días en el Tribunal Constitucional. (La Hora [Ecuador], 7 marzo 2002)

• Ecuador hopes for settlement in ChevronTexaco case: Ecuador's attorney general said this week he is fighting to help indigenous groups settle a nine-year-old lawsuit charging that water contamination by oil giant Texaco Inc. caused more than $120 million in damages and injuries. (Manuela Badawy, Reuters, 28 Feb. 2002)

• Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes update on lawsuit against Texaco] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

• Caution Issued to Chevron Shareholders: New Ad Campaign Warns Chevron That It Must Pay Billions For Texaco's Dumping In Amazon Rainforest - Texaco's huge liability poses major obstacle for SEC approval of merger with Chevron; Texaco again charged with race discrimination (Frente para la defensa de la Amazonia, 9 Aug. 2001)
  • Texaco website: Texaco and Ecuador (Texaco)
  • Chevron website: Spotlight: Chevron Texaco Merger (Chevron)
   
• Texaco Left Toxic Legacy in Ecuador: A group representing more than 30,000 Ecuadoreans is suing Texaco in U.S. District Court, charging that the company dumped some 4.3 million gallons a day of toxic oil waste water into the Amazon. Texaco also left behind more than 300 open waste pits contaminated with heavy metals and other carcinogenic hydrocarbon compounds. The Ecuador plaintiffs have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Chevron has not adequately divulged the huge potential liability of the lawsuit to its shareholders. For those living in the shadow of Texaco's shining star, the company's toxic legacy in Ecuador will never fade. The SEC must insist that the company settle its liabilities in Ecuador as a condition for the merger. (letter to the editor from Kevin Koenig, Amazon Watch, in Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2001)

• Judge dismisses Indians suits against Texaco - A federal judge [U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff] this week dismissed lawsuits against Texaco brought by rainforest Indians of Ecuador and Peru who alleged the oil company contaminated their water and land (Reuters, 1 June 2001) 

• Chevron's Board Urged to Disclose Texaco's Liabilities in the Ecuadorian Amazon in the Merger Proceedings: Evidence Detailing More than Three Hundred and Fifty Contaminated Sites Handed to Chevron's Chairman (Amazon Watch, 26 Apr. 2001)

• Texaco on Trial (Eyal Press, The Nation, 31 May 1999)

• Colonos' complaint (Emily Walmsley, Index on Censorship, 8 Aug. 1997)

• comments by advocates for plaintiffs: "Aguinda v. Texaco, Jota v. Texaco: Questions & Answers"

• comments by Texaco: "Ecuador: Legal Archives"