REMARKS
Council Member Gennaro questions Mastro's environmental record
6:04:13
·
7 min
Council Member James Gennaro introduces his concerns about Randy Mastro's environmental record, focusing on Mastro's involvement in the Chevron case related to oil drilling in Ecuador. Gennaro provides extensive background on the case, detailing the environmental devastation caused by Texaco (later acquired by Chevron) in the Amazon rainforest. He questions how the environmental justice community can trust Mastro given his role in defending Chevron against a $9 billion judgment.
- Gennaro outlines the scale of environmental damage: 16 billion gallons of hazardous waste dumped, affecting 30,000 indigenous people
- He highlights that Mastro lists the Chevron case as his top legal achievement in his resume
- Gennaro expresses concern that Mastro's involvement in this case will be a 'deal breaker' for NYC's environmental justice community
James Gennaro
6:04:13
Thank you, Mr.
6:04:14
Chair.
6:04:15
Good afternoon, Mr.
6:04:16
Mastro.
6:04:18
Thank you for your opening statement and the testimony you provided so far.
6:04:23
I I have some concerns about your nomination with regard to your record on the environment, so I'll I'll probe that now.
6:04:32
Let's start with your work for for a Chevron regarding the Lago Aguirre oil field in Ecuador, in the Amazon rainforest.
6:04:41
I apologize that this question has a a long ramp up.
6:04:46
It's it's a quite a celebrated case, and I have to, you know, bring some people up to speed.
6:04:52
Mhmm.
6:04:53
The problems that I will lay out regarding Lago Agrio were conducted Mhmm.
6:05:00
By Texaco, but Texaco was acquired by Chevron in 2001.
6:05:05
From 1964 to 1990, Mexico deliberately and systematically dumped more than 16,000,000,000 with a b, gallons of hazardous waste in the form of produced water in approximately 900 open waste pits dug into the floor of the Amazon forest.
6:05:25
As many people know, produced water is something that's part of the drilling process.
6:05:30
You drill.
6:05:31
You get oil.
6:05:32
You also get like a briny water from the earth that is laced with toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
6:05:41
So produced water as I said, hazardous waste.
6:05:47
It also dumped, Texaco did 17,000,000 gallons of crude oil for road clearing activities in the rain forest.
6:05:58
All of this, Texaco admitted, but maintained that it had done so legally, and according to industry standards.
6:06:06
Texaco left behind a 1500 square mile patch of environmental disaster causing an epidemic of cancer and other oral related health problems for about 30,000 residents from from indigenous cultures whose health, natural resources, and way of life has been decimated.
6:06:27
This is considered one of the world's largest oil related catastrophes and has been dubbed the Amazon Chernobyl.
6:06:37
This is a well known example of oil drilling malfeasance.
6:06:41
I am a geologist myself for the subspecialty and petroleum geology and people in this field know this case very well.
6:06:48
Litigation for this catastrophe started in the US in 1993 after years of effort to have the case relocated litigation commenced in Ecuador in 2003, in 2011, Chevron, which took over ago in 2001 was found guilty and ordered to pay an $18,000,000,000 settlement later reduced to $9,000,000,000.
6:07:12
You represented Chevron to fight the $9,000,000,000 settlement.
6:07:17
And you and you prevailed despite Texaco slash Chevron admitting that it created that devastation, but arguing, as I said before, that it did so legally.
6:07:27
In representing Chevron, you began a series of so called slap lawsuits on Chevron's victims, on their lawyer, and on the and on the Ecuadorian judicial system.
6:07:42
Slap lawsuits as many people know in this room, are strategic lawsuits against public participation, and their purpose is not necessarily to win, but to intimidate, harass, demonize, and bankrupt the weaker opponent, and prevent victims from speaking out against unethical and criminal activities.
6:08:03
Many jurisdictions now banned slap lawsuits.
6:08:06
Anyway, Chevron needed a win at all cost lawyer, and they hired you.
6:08:13
And you are proud of your success in that case, listing it first in your resume among your most significant legal accomplishments.
6:08:24
I have your resume here that was provided to us the first sentence in the part of the resume that talks about your your your best legal achievements.
6:08:36
The first one, among many high profile matters, Randy won a 2 month Rico trial barring the enforcement of a $9,000,000,000 fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment against against Chevron.
6:08:51
And let me continue with my long lead into my question, once again, my apologies.
6:08:56
So you did your job You went on behalf of Chevron, which in 2003 yielded more than 200,000,000,000 in revenues worldwide.
6:09:08
But the 30,000 indigenous people lost everything.
6:09:11
Their health, their water, their homes.
6:09:15
There was a documentary film that was made titled crude as in crude oil and was was filmed at the Sundance Film Festival and receive the claim.
6:09:28
So on one side there is Chevron, which has still not made the indigenous people whole.
6:09:34
And while you highlight your victory in this case as your I'm led to believe your number one legal achievement, according to your resume.
6:09:45
New York City has many environmental justice challenges, and you have mentioned environmental justice ten times in your responses so far in in today's hearing by my account, and you mentioned environmental justice in your written statement.
6:10:02
So, finally, we get to the question.
6:10:05
How can the environmental justice community and this council trust you to champion EJ issues and defend EJ legislation when you tout as your number one legal victory, your triumph for Chevron.
6:10:21
In this case, which Chevron in which Chevron perpetrated 1 of the worst episodes of environmental injustice on the planet, which is still going on today.
6:10:33
Chevron perpetrated this environmental injustice, admitted it, and you got them a walk, and the indigenous people are still suffering from Chevron's environmental destruction.
6:10:44
This council cannot get the city's activist EJ community to abide that.
6:10:52
That is, I believe, a deal breaker and legal nuances of this case and your obligation towards your client, Chevron, are not going to create you know, that kind of description is not gonna create any kind of baseline of trust of you on the part on the environmental justice community.
6:11:12
I believe that is just a stone fact, and I invite your perspective on this matter.