By then, the first lawsuit was already being argued in U.S. courts. That suit, filed in New York in 1993, was eventually dismissed, but it paved the way for the current suit, filed in Ecuador in 2003. This time, Chevron13) is the defendant—the California-based oil company purchased Texaco in 2001. Chevron rests its defense on three pillars: Chevron itself never operated in Ecuador; the Ecuadorian government already released Texaco from these claims; and, finally, the plaintiffs have committed fraud.
第二天早晨,我们在酒店的一个大套房里会面。萨姆花了几个钟头向我介绍我的工作任务——如果我接受这一工作的话。
他告诉我,在厄瓜多尔的拉戈·阿格里奥,有史以来最大的环境诉讼案之一正在丛林地区的一家法庭激烈上演。委托美国庭审律师代理辩护的一些居民和一个名叫“亚马逊河防卫联盟”的非政府组织将德士古公司告上了法庭,理由是该公司在当地运营二十多年来,一直都在日复一日、肆无忌惮地污染环境。原告声明,德士古公司在拉戈·阿格里奥周边倾倒了3.3亿加仑石油,污染了他们的饮用水,引发了癌症和其他疾病。
不过,萨姆却站在德士古公司一边,他解释说,到底谁该为造成的损害负责并不完全明朗。20世纪70年代初期,德士古公司开始在该纠纷所涉及地区的中心地带建造和经营油井。但是从1977年起,国营的厄瓜多尔石油公司拥有了这些油井62.5%的股份。正因为如此,在对一共321个油井进行油污清理时,政府只给德士古公司分配了133个,其余的皆由厄瓜多尔石油公司负责。德士古公司在清理工作上投入了4,000万美元,工作结束后,基多一所大学的分析员过来收集了石油和水质样本。到1998年,德士古旗下的所有油井都通过了检测,厄瓜多尔政府签署了完全免责的证书。
那个时候,第一起诉讼已经开始在美国法庭展开辩论。此次诉讼于1993年向纽约法庭提起,最终被驳回,但它却为眼下这起诉讼铺平了道路,这起诉讼于2003年在厄瓜多尔提起。这一次站在被告席上的是雪佛龙公司——这家总部位于加利福尼亚的石油公司在2001年收购了德士古公司。雪佛龙为自己所作的辩护基于三个理由:雪佛龙公司本身从未在厄瓜多尔开展业务;厄瓜多尔政府已经放弃追究德士古公司的责任;最后一点,原告方有欺诈行为。
Until fairly recently, it seemed that Chevron would prevail. But starting in 2006, a series of dramatic changes took place. Rafael Correa14) won the presidency. In an interview, he said, “ Our oil company [PetroEcuador] has also done a lot of damage in the rainforest, but it is very clear that the problem comes from the Chevron-Texaco period.”
The case truly began slipping away from Chevron when the Ecuadorian court assigned a single independent expert to assess the environmental damages. The expert settled on a $27.3 billion figure that Chevron alone would be held responsible for covering. A judgment could come as early as the first quarter of 2011, and at this stage, many believe Chevron will lose.
Sam explained that once the company realized it was losing the PR battle, it regrouped and hired Kroll. Based in New York, Kroll has a global network of employees, vast resources, and powerful connections. Given this reach15), I knew Kroll could hire someone with a medical background, legal training, or at least some familiarity with Ecuador. But there was a reason they wanted me.
With one Google search, anyone could see that I was a journalist. If I went to Lago Agrio as myself and pretended to write a story, no one would suspect that the starry-eyed16) young American poking around was actually shilling17) for Chevron.
截至距今不久为止,雪佛龙看上去还是稳占上风的。但从2006年开始,情况却发生了一系列戏剧性的变化。拉斐尔·科雷亚当选总统,他在一次采访中说:“我们的石油公司(即厄瓜多尔石油公司)还对雨林造成了很大的破坏,但显而易见,问题的源头却要追溯到雪佛龙-德士古时期。”
情况真正开始朝着不利于雪佛龙公司的方向转变,是从厄瓜多尔法庭指定了一名专家来对环境破坏的程度进行独立评估开始的。这名专家最后认定,雪佛龙公司应当为其所造成的环境破坏承担273亿美元的赔偿。判决结果在2011年的第一季度就要公布,而就现阶段来看,许多人相信雪佛龙将要败诉。
萨姆解释说,该公司意识到自己将要输掉这场公关斗争后,立即重新部署,并雇请了科罗尔公司。科罗尔公司总部设在纽约,员工遍布全球,并且有着丰富的资源和强大的关系网络。考虑到科罗尔公司这样强大的影响力,我知道它完全可以找个有医学背景、受过法律培训或者至少是比较熟悉厄瓜多尔的人。但他们却看上了我,这里面当然是有原因的。
不管是谁,用谷歌搜索一下,就会发现我是一名记者。要是我亲自去拉戈·阿格里奥,假装要写一篇报道,没有人会怀疑这个充满幻想、四处探听消息的美国青年实际上是雪佛龙公司雇用的骗子。
My assigment, should I choose to accept it, involved a health study that took place around 2007, when a Spanish human-rights activist named Carlos Beristain went to Lago Agrio. After interviewing 1,000 residents, Beristain concluded that the community suffered abnormally high cancer rates, and his study became a key part of the court-appointed expert’s report. But Chevron thought something was fishy18): Beristain had failed to disclose the names of all his assistants or of the people interviewed. To Chevron, the names were key to proving that the interviews were real. Was it possible that the plaintiffs had colluded with Beristain to handpick the interviewees? Kroll wanted me to find out.
“You know you’re irreplaceable,” Sam told me on my last night in Bogotá. We were sitting outside a fancy Peruvian restaurant. The smoke from Sam’s cigarette curled in the lamplight, giving the moment a film-noir19) feel. But by then the excitement had mostly worn off20), and I wasn’t sure I could do this and live with21) myself. “There is no other Mary Cuddehe,” Sam continued. “If you don’t do this job, we’ll have to find another way.” Then he told me how much he could pay: $20,000 for about six weeks of work. Plus expenses.
Part of me wanted to say yes. I was thrilled by the idea of a six-week paid adventure in the jungle, and I was curious about the case. Had the health study been fixed? Were the plaintiffs colluding with Beristain? Was Chevron desperate and paranoid22), merely trying to smear23) its opponents? Despite my curiosity, I knew I had to say no. If I’m ever going to answer those questions, it will have to be in my role as a journalist, not as a corporate spy.
如果我接受这项工作的话,我的任务与2007年前后进行的一项健康研究有关,当时一个名叫卡洛斯·贝里斯坦的西班牙人权主义者来到了拉戈·阿格里奥。在走访了1,000名当地居民后,贝里斯坦得出结论:当地人的癌症患病率异常高,他的研究结果也成为法庭指定的那名专家所写报告的重要组成部分。不过,雪佛龙公司认为有些地方值得怀疑:贝里斯坦并未透露他所有助手的名字,也未将受访者的姓名公诸于众。在雪佛龙看来,姓名是证明访问真实性的关键所在。原告方与贝里斯坦有没有可能串通一气,精心挑选了受访者呢?科罗尔公司希望我能查个水落石出。
“你知道这事非你莫属。”我在波哥大的最后一晚,萨姆这么对我说。我们当时坐在一家漂亮的秘鲁餐馆外面,萨姆手中的雪茄散发出的缕缕烟雾在灯光中缭绕,颇有些黑色电影的感觉。但是此时,我的兴奋感已经消失殆尽,而且我不确定自己能否胜任这项工作,也不知道能否忍受做这项工作的自己。“没有第二个玛莉·库德赫了,”萨姆接着说道,“如果你不干,我们也只好再想别的办法了。”然后,他告诉我他能支付的酬金:工作大约六周,付我两万美元酬金,其他开支另算。
我心里的某个角落还是有点想把这件事应承下来的。一想到能在丛林中历险六周,而且还带薪,我就很激动,况且我对这个案子充满好奇。那项健康研究是否做过手脚?原告方与贝里斯坦是否暗中勾结?雪佛龙公司是否已经到了孤