30 Mar 2006
Plaintiffs for Third Time Prevent Judge from Inspecting Laboratory
"Disregard for Three Court Orders is Outrageous"
QUITO, Ecuador -- March 30, 2006 -- For the third time in less than two months, an Ecuadorian judge has been prevented from legally inspecting a laboratory used by the plaintiffs' technical experts in the ongoing environmental lawsuit against Chevron.
As he was preparing to leave the court house to travel to the Havoc Laboratory today, Judge German Gonzalez, Civil Judge of Pichincha was intercepted by plaintiffs' attorneys who presented him with a petition seeking to prevent him from inspecting the laboratory. The purpose of the inspection was to determine if the laboratory is properly accredited and is capable of accurately performing the work it has been doing for the plaintiffs' technical experts.
Rodrigo Perez, legal representative of Texaco Petroleum Company, said, "The goal of the inspection is to determine whether Havoc is using sound and reliable laboratory practices to generate sampling results and evidence that are filed with the court by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs' obstruction of this process and disregard for three court orders is outrageous and raises very serious questions about the legitimacy and admissibility of the evidence that Plaintiffs have produced from Havoc." We can only conclude that they must have something to hide and are afraid the Court will realize that the laboratory they use is incapable and not accredited to do competent scientific analysis."
On February 17 Judge Gonzalez visited the Havoc Laboratory in Quito to conduct an official inspection. Despite the fact that both the lab operator and the plaintiffs' lawyers had been notified of the inspection, the lab was closed and the Judge was denied access. Judge Gonzalez attempted to inspect the lab again on March 21, and was again denied entry.
When the Judicial Site Inspections began in 2004, the plaintiffs hired the services of the Catholic University Laboratory in Quito. In January 2005 they abruptly switched to Havoc Laboratories in Quito for water and soil analysis, even though Havoc Laboratory is not certified to conduct either hydrocarbons or metal analysis.
Laboratory results and the reports of Chevron's technical experts submitted to the Superior Court of Nueva Loja demonstrate that Texaco Petroleum Company (Texpet) carried out an effective remediation program and there is no risk to human health or the environment resulting from Texpet's former operations. Texpet turned over operations to Petroecuador in June 1990.
Chevron uses qualified laboratories in Ecuador and the United States that meet or exceed all ISO 17025 standards used by Organization Accreditation Ecuador (OAE). In Lago Agrio, Enfoquetoc-STL, one of the laboratories in use by Chevron, has achieved full OAE accreditation for analyzing soils and water. Judicial Inspection samples taken by Court-appointed technical experts are analyzed at two highly reputable laboratories in the United States, which is allowed in the Ecuadorian judicial inspection process.
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