Brazil Dam's Failure Flooded Region With Toxic Wastes, U.N. Report Says
November 25 2015 - 7:08PM
Dow Jones News
By Paul Kiernan
RIO DE JANEIRO--An avalanche of mud unleashed by a massive dam
failure in Brazil earlier this month contained "high levels of
toxic heavy metals and other toxic chemicals," a pair of United
Nations experts said Wednesday.
Special rapporteurs John Knox and Baskut Tuncak cited new
evidence showing the presence of toxic waste in the mud, which
swallowed entire communities and polluted hundreds of miles of
waterways in southeast Brazil. Their findings contradict repeated
statements by the Brazilian government and the mining companies
responsible for the dam that the chemicals released by the accident
were harmless.
"This is not the time for defensive posturing," Messrs. Knox and
Tuncak said in a joint statement published to the website of the
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"It is not acceptable that it has taken three weeks for information
about the toxic risks of the mining disaster to surface."
The failure occurred at an earthen dam operated by Samarco
Mineração SA, a joint venture between global mining giants Vale SA
and BHP Billiton PLC. It held back some 55 million cubic meters of
tailings, waste from Samarco and Vale's nearby iron-ore mines.
All three companies have said the tailings are harmless and
consist mostly of mud and sand. The Brazilian government said on
Nov. 19 that samples collected by the Geological Service of Brazil
and the National Water Agency "indicated that there was not an
increase in the presence of heavy metals in the water and sediments
of the Rio Doce," the main river in the region.
Nevertheless, authorities cut off water supplies for hundreds of
thousands of people along the river as the mud snaked downstream.
Reports of major wildlife die-offs emerged in its wake, with news
teams and local residents alike publishing videos of mud-coated
fish agonizing in the river's reddened waters.
As many as 12 people died and another 11 were left missing.
The plume arrived at the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend, about
530 miles from Samarco's dam.
Samarco, Vale, BHP Billiton and Brazilian authorities have come
under fire for their handling of the incident. Residents of Bento
Rodrigues, a village just below the dam system, said the mining
companies had no alarm system set up to alert them when the dam
failed. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff didn't visit the scene
until a week later, and then it was by helicopter.
"This disaster serves as yet another tragic example of the
failure of businesses to adequately conduct human rights due
diligence to prevent human rights abuses," the U.N. statement said
Wednesday.
Vale and BHP Billiton have denied responsibility for the
accident, saying Samarco is an independently run, limited liability
firm. The former companies didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment on the U.N. statement.
A spokeswoman for Samarco, in an emailed statement, reiterated
that the tailings from its dam consist "basically" of water,
iron-ore particles and quartz. New analyses that the company has
requested, she said, "attest that the material analyzed does
present a danger to human health."
"The company respects the U.N.'s right to expression," the
Samarco spokeswoman added.
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2015 18:53 ET (23:53 GMT)
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