Bob McCarty Writes

For most of the past three weeks, I’ve been trying to learn as many details as possible about the a $27 billion class-action lawsuit pitting the Amazon Defense Coalition against Chevron.  Only last night, however, did I come to realize fully how large the stakes are in this 16-year-old lawsuit being tried in a court in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.

Barely an hour after “60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley’s story, “Amazon Crude,” aired on CBS Sunday night, I had exchanged e-mails with representatives on both sides of the lawsuit.

On the plaintiff side, Andrew Woods, a Huffington Post blogger and Harvard Law School graduate who serves as one of the attorneys for the plaintiff, got things started by sending me a link to the “60 Minutes” piece along with a transcript of the CBS segment at 8:10 p.m. Central.  He ended his message by saying, “I’d be interested in your reaction.”

On the defense side, media advisor Justin Higgs sent a message 15 minutes later.  In response to his question about whether I had seen Pelley’s piece, I told him, “Coincidentally, I’m watching it online right now.”  He followed up by sending me a link to a Chevron Flickr page which offers photos that, he explained, “haven’t been publicized until recently.”  Six photos to be exact, all of which were shot by a Chevron consultant, according to Kent Robertson, a Higgs’ colleague with whom I also exchanged e-mails.  One of the photos appears at the top of this post.

If I was inclined to want to pass judgment on this case based solely upon last night’s “spin war,” I would have to give the victory to Chevron for two reasons:

• First, it’s impossible to boil down 16 years of litigation into the small amount of Sunday evening airtime “60 Minutes” devoted to the subject — 15 minutes — and expect to provide an objective look at both sides of the case; and

• Second, each of the photos on the Chevron Flickr page features a man identified as Donald Moncayo of the ADC.  In each photo, he’s shown assisting Richard Cabrera, the Ecuadoran court’s “independent expert,” during inspections of sites allegedly polluted by Texaco, the company that operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990 and was purchased by Chevron in 2001.  How independent can Cabrera be if, as Robertson explained further, he has someone from the plaintiff’s side accompanying him on — and participating in — inspections while representatives of the defendant’s side were allowed only to observe a portion of the inspections?

At this point, It’s too early to reach a definitive conclusion, but I expect that will come within the next 30 days as I continue to exchange information by e-mail and phone with Woods, Higgs, Robertson and others involved in this lawsuit.

There is SO much to cover.  It should be interesting, so stay tuned.

* * *

UPDATE 5/04/09 at 10:15 a.m. Central: It appears the “60 Minutes” piece is getting a lot of attention today.  For instance, Jeff Poor at the Business & Media Institute, wrote a piece today under the headline, ’60 Minutes’ Promotes $27-Billion Leftist ‘Fraud’ Efforts Against Chevron piece.  In addition, Zennie Abraham offered a similar take in his piece, Amazon Defense Coalition A Fake Company Created by Hinton Communication for Ecuador Case.  I have yet to find any news or blog posts favoring the CBS show’s coverage of the topic.  Apparently, many in the blogosphere and in newsrooms around the country are still writing.  More as these stories surface.

UPDATE #2 5/04/09 at 3:13 P.m. Central: Karen Hinton, PR consultant for the ADC, e-mailed me about her unhappiness about the fact that I gave Chevron the “win” in the post above, based upon photos.  She writes:  “The Chevron attorneys were there, too!  Standing near the same spot!  They were as much a part of what was going on there as Donald was.”  Now, my readers have read both sides.  More to come.

To learn more about the ADC’s spurious lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador, read these BMW posts.

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