‘A dealbreaker’: Former Chevron lawyer faces opposition for NYC post

Source: ‘A dealbreaker’: Former Chevron lawyer faces opposition for NYC post

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Indeed, Mastro’s list of clients include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie during the “Bridgegate” scandal, New Jersey in its effort to block congestion pricing initiatives in New York, landlords fighting a local ordinance requiring buildings to make energy efficiency upgrades, and oil giant Chevron, in its years-long pursuit to evade liability for oil spills and billions of gallons of cancer-causing wastewater pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

During Mastro’s hearing on August 27, Council Member Jim Gennaro, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency & Waterfronts, used his first question to confront Mastro for his representation of Chevron in that case, and for listing it first on his resume among his most significant legal accomplishments.

“How can the environmental justice community and this council trust you to champion [environmental justice] issues and defend [environmental justice] legislation when you tout as your number one legal victory your triumph for Chevron in this case, in which Chevron perpetrated one of the worst episodes of environmental injustice on the planet, which is still going on today?” Gennaro asked.

“You got them a walk, and the Indigenous people are still suffering from Chevron’s environmental destruction,” he said. “That is, I believe, a dealbreaker.” 

“He can’t have it both ways”

The case Gennaro referred to was Chevron’s racketeering case against Steven Donziger, the now-former human rights attorney who in 2011 won a $9.5 billion judgment against the oil giant on behalf of Indigenous people and small farmers in Ecuador. Mastro played a leading role in trying Chevron’s case, which accused Donziger of winning the Ecuadorian judgment through bribery and fraud. Chevron’s paid witness later recanted large parts of his testimony — but more than a decade after the judgment in Ecuador, none of the 30,000 plaintiffs have received a cent or seen a cleanup of the pollution still making them sick.

In an interview with ExxonKnews, Gennaro reaffirmed that Mastro’s choice to “shield Chevron” from accountability was “a dealbreaker in terms of him being a good fit.”

“What I was trying to get across to Mr. Mastro is that he can’t have it both ways,” Gennaro said. “He can’t be the protector of Chevron when they perpetrate one of the most egregious environmental injustices in recent memory, and stand on the side of environmental justice when it comes to policies in New York City.”

Council Member Sandy Nurse, who also serves on the Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, echoed that sentiment. Mastro helped “a lucrative client get off the hook for poisoning poor Brown people in another country,” she told ExxonKnews. “This was a for-profit venture to work for people who are destroying the planet, who have no problem toxifying our ecosystems for money.”