Ecospeak in Transnational Environmental Tort Proceedings

Scholars have proposed numerous solutions to the procedural hurdles facing non-U.S. claimants like forum non conveniens and non-recognition of foreign money judgments, including allowing an arbitration forum as part of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). This Article explains and applies environmental rhetoric to examine the positions taken by Chevron-Texaco and the Republic of Ecuador in an ongoing environmental dispute involving indigenous Ecuadorans to show how they continually reduce the complex and intersecting interests of the stakeholders into simplistic us-versus-them binaries to gain strategic advantage. While the rhetorical analysis concludes that the proffered solutions may not be viable, it also suggests ways in which the shared interests of the parties could lead to alternative solutions.