Emem Okon spoke for the women of the Niger Delta to Chevron shareholders on May 25, 2011. After the meeting, she came out to speak to the crowd rallying to support her and others who had traveled from locations around the world impacted by Chevron’s practices. Hear her response to what Chevron had to say.

Emem Okon at True Cost of Chevron Press Conference before 2011 Chevron Shareholders meeting

I am here to represent the women of the Niger Delta who live in communities near gas flares and who suffer health issues of infertility, early menopause, miscarriages, cancer, rashes; women who fish in waters polluted by Chevron; who drink Chevron polluted water because there is no other source of drinking water; women whose traditional means of livelihood of farming and fishing have been destroyed by Chevron oil business activities; the women who confronted Chevron years back over the injustice perpetrated by Chevron in their communities. Chevron claims to recognize the value of fresh water as a fundamental social, environmental and economic resource but Chevron pollutes the fresh water in the Niger Delta with impunity. I have questions from the Niger Delta women: WHEN WILL CHEVRON STOP ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN? WHEN WILL CHEVRON STOP THE TOXIC FLARES IN THE NIGER DELTA? WHEN WILL CHEVRON STOP DESTROYING THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF THE WOMEN IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION? If Chevron is not ready to stop the toxic flares, Niger Delta Women say:  ‘LEAVE THE OIL IN THE SOIL’

- Emem Okon, May 24, 2011

At a press conference today in San Francisco, Emem Okon from Nigeria and over one dozen community leaders from Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Alaska, Texas, across California, and more gathered at a Chevron gas station to expose the harms of Chevron’s operations in the communities where they live and advocate. See JINN’s photography from the event and  join JINN at the protest tomorrow at Chevron’s corporate headquarters to support those whose lives have been harmed by Chevron’s outdated practices.

All photos:  Todd Sanchioni

Chevron Reports First Quarter Net Income of $6.2 Billion, Up From $4.6 Billion in First Quarter 2010, Chevron Press Release, April 29, 2011

UPDATE 2-Ecuador plaintiffs appeal Chevron damages award
6:07pm EST, By Victor Gomez, Reuters

Indigenous farmers say $8.6 bln in damages not enough

Chevron says charges of polluting the jungle are false (Recasts, adds plaintiffs appeal, updates throughout)

LAGO AGRIO, Ecuador, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Ecuadoreans suing U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for environmental damages on Thursday appealed a recent court ruling that awarded them $8.6 billion, claiming that more money would be needed for cleanup efforts.

Residents of Ecuador’s Amazon jungle say that Texaco, which was later acquired by Chevron, dumped polluted water into their rivers and left drilling waste to fester in unlined pits, charges that the company denies.

At $8.6 billion, the damages figure is one of the biggest environmental judgments ever. But plaintiffs say more money will be needed to clean up the Rhode Island-sized swath of rainforest that they accuse Texaco of wrecking when it operated in area during the 1970s and 1980s. [ID:nN16261158]

In their appeal before a three-judge panel at Sucumbios provincial court, in the heart of Ecuador’s Amazon region, the plaintiffs did not say how much they are seeking in damages.

“We do not have an economic figure. It is an open petition,” lead lawyer Pablo Fajardo told Reuters.

The long legal battle in Ecuador, which has spawned related actions in U.S. courts and international arbitration, is seen as a test case widely watched by international oil companies wary of precedents for other major damage claims.

Chevron inherited the case when it bought Texaco in 2001. It says it cleaned up all waste pits it was responsible for before turning the sites over to Ecuador’s state-owned oil firm, Petroecuador, which still operates in the area.

Chevron says the 17-year-old legal saga has been driven more by greedy trial lawyers than concern for the environment.

Calling the charges false, Chevron says it will seek to overturn Monday’s ruling by Sucumbios court judge Nicolas Zambrano that found the company responsible for pollution.

Resolution could still be years away, and few analysts expect the company to pay anything soon, if at all. Chevron’s stock price was not hit by the Feb. 14 ruling, as investors had widely expected the verdict.

ENFORCEMENT SUSPENDED

Company lawyers filed a 31-page request with the court on Thursday, asking to clarify points included in its ruling.

“Our filing today has the same effect as an appeal in that it suspends the enforcement or execution of the verdict,” Chevron spokesman James Craig told Reuters.

“The judge must resolve our request for clarification of his ruling and, upon doing that, the company will have 72 hours to file its appeal,” he said.

Zambrano’s tiny courtroom is in a rundown building in an Amazon town called Lago Agrio near the Colombian border.

In its request for clarification of his Monday ruling, Chevron wants to know more about the formula that Zambrano used to come up with his damages assessment.

The company is also asking the judge if he viewed outtakes from the 2009 documentary “Crude” that were subpoenaed by Chevron as part of U.S. court proceedings related to the case.

The company says the clips, which did not appear in the film, show evidence of fraud on the part of the plaintiffs. [ID:nN10247574] (Additional reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Cynthia Osterman)

Chevron fined $8bn over Amazon ‘contamination’, by Dominic Rushe and Rory Carroll, guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 February 2011 23.30 GMT

Ecuadorian judge finds oil giant responsible for widespread damage to Amazon basin caused by drilling

An Ecuadorian judge has ruled that Chevron was responsible for widespread contamination of the country’s Amazon basin and fined the company $8bn (£5bn). The oil firm blasted the ruling as a “fraud”.

Pablo Fajardo, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, told Associated Press the judgement at the provincial court of justice of Sucumbíos in Lago Agrio was “a great step that we have made towards the crystallisation of justice”, but the fine was too small – far below the $27.3bn sought by the plaintiffs – and they may appeal.

The epic and bitterly fought lawsuit over the “Amazon Chernobyl” has been going on for 18 years. It was brought on behalf of 30,000 people whose health and environment were allegedly damaged by chemical-laden waste water dumped by Texaco’s operations from 1972 to 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.

The lawsuit alleges that Chevron should be held responsible for $27bn in damages from illness, deaths and economic loss suffered by the Amazon residents. The case was the subject of 2009′s award-winning documentary Crude and has attracted celebrity supporters including Sting, Trudie Styler and Daryl Hannah.

The case goes back to the 1970s when Texaco partnered the government oil company PetroEcuador to drill wells. Texaco ended its Ecuadorian operations in the 1990s and was assigned responsibility for cleaning up sites proportional to its share in the project. The company spent $40m on the clean-up and argues that it was legally released from further claims or liabilities. But the suit claims the clean-up failed to address faulty drilling practices by Texaco that caused damage to wide areas of jungle and harmed indigenous people.

The case has triggered a slew of related legal action in the US and international courts and has led to an arbitration case in The Hague. This month Chevron lawyers sued a group of trial lawyers and consultants, claiming they were organising a campaign to rig the Ecuadorian court system in a bid to win billions in the pollution claim.

Last week an international arbitration panel in The Hague ordered Ecuador to “take all measures at its disposal to suspend or cause to be suspended the enforcement or recognition within and without Ecuador of any judgment” against Chevron in the case. Chevron had claimed that Ecuador was violating the terms of a 1997 trade pact with the US.

A 2009 US state department report entitled Investment Climate Statement for Ecuador stated: “Systemic weakness and susceptibility to political or economic pressures in the rule of law constitute the most important problem faced by US companies investing in or trading with Ecuador.” The report claimed “corruption is a serious problem in Ecuador,” and that “the courts are often susceptible to outside pressure and bribes”.

Chevron said the judgment was “illegitimate and unenforceable”, adding: “It is the product of fraud and is contrary to the legitimate scientific evidence. Chevron will appeal against this decision in Ecuador and intends to see that justice prevails.

“United States and international tribunals already have taken steps to bar enforcement of the Ecuadorian ruling. Chevron does not believe that today’s judgment is enforceable in any court that observes the rule of law. Chevron intends to see that the perpetrators of this fraud are held accountable for their misconduct.”

In contrast, the advocacy groups Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network hailed the ruling. “It is time Chevron cleans up its disastrous mess in Ecuador.”

On the possibility of appealing, Fajardo said: “We believe the evidence before the court deserves international respect and the plaintiffs will take whatever actions are appropriate consistent with the law to press the claims to a final conclusion.”

Judge Nicolas Zambrano, who made the ruling from the provincial town of Lago Agrio, gave Chevron 60 days to set up an escrow account in Ecuador through which the damages would be distributed. Analysts said appeals meant the case probably had years to run but that the oil industry had been dealt a warning to clean up its act.

According to a report by Sweden’s Umeå International School of Public Health more than 30bn gallons of toxic wastes and crude oil had been discharged into the land and waterways of Ecuador’s Amazon basin – or “Oriente”. This compares to the 10.8m gallons spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 in Alaska or 205m gallons spilt in BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster. The report claims there are at least two big oil spills per week in the area.

If you didn’t already know, Nigeria is renowned for its film scene. Every Thursday in February, the Smithsonian features Nigerian movies as part of the Nollywood Film Festival.

Chevron is a key sponsor of the event. Chevron’s track record in Nigeria of human rights and environmental abuse makes it a bad choice for a sponsor.

When JINN phoned the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art Corporate Membership office to express concern about Chevron’s sponsoring of the event and to ask about the criteria for evaluating prospective sponsors, the Smithsonian replied that it could not divulge its criteria; that they are aware of Chevron’s track record in Nigeria, but that they did not concern themselves with the political ramifications of what their funders do, since the Smithsonian’s objective is to fund art.

JINN, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), and Global Exhange created a postcard (see photos above and below). At each Thursday event, RAN will distribute, collect, and deliver postcards to the Smithsonian.

If you are in DC–or know people in DC–JINN encourages you to attend the festival to support Nigerian filmmakers, but be sure to let the Smithsonian know that you disapprove of Chevron as the sponsor for this event.