Steven Donziger, an environmental attorney who helped win a $9.5 billion pollution judgment against Chevron on behalf of Indigenous people and farmers in the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador, is facing six months in prison after over 650 days of house arrest.
Chevron has run an over-decade-long campaign to demonize Donziger and avoided paying any of the $9.5 billion. Meanwhile, the community in Ecuador is in the same situation they were in when they filed this case in the early 2000s— dealing with the health and environmental repercussions of oil extraction.
Currently spoke with Amy Westervelt, who has covered the ongoing lawsuit in a series on her podcast ‘Drilled’ since 2020, about the updates in Donziger’s case and the community in Ecuador.
“These people who were affected, still have the exact same problems… their whole way of life that predated the oil industry by hundreds of years, was destroyed,” said Westervelt,
However, she added the Ecuadorian community is leading clean-up efforts and mutual aid organizing to assist those affected.
“They are extremely resilient; they are not waiting around for this court settlement,” said Westervelt.
