Brazil Police Say BHP, Vale At Fault for Dam Disaster
June 09 2016 - 6:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Paul Kiernan
RIO DE JANEIRO -- A catastrophic dam failure that killed 19
people and polluted hundreds of miles of rivers in Brazil last year
was the result of a mining company's repeated decision to
prioritize production over safety, Brazil's Federal Police said
Thursday.
Top executives at Samarco Mineração, the joint venture between
global mining giants Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd., for years were
aware of cracks and drainage problems at the so-called Fundão
tailings dam that collapsed Nov. 5, the police said.
"Don't call it an accident," Roger Lima de Moura, head of the
Federal Police task force that investigated the disaster, said in
an interview. The companies were "more than negligent," he
said.
The risk was so high that company officials discussed purchasing
and relocating the village of Bento Rodrigues, which was wiped out
by a tsunami of mine waste after the dam broke, the authorities
said. But rather than taking precautionary measures like halting
production to reinforce Fundão, the company cut spending and
proceeded with a plan to increase output by 37%, the Federal Police
added.
Brazil's Federal Police presented on Thursday the results of a
seven-month investigation that included phone calls and text
messages between Samarco executives, expert analysis and witness
testimony. They requested formal charges against eight company
officials, including former Chief Executive Ricardo Vescovi and a
manager at Vale's nearby Alegria mine, for environmental
crimes.
Samarco and Mr. Vescovi didn't immediately return emailed
requests for comment.
Criminal proceedings against Samarco had been suspended for more
than two months before a high court determined in late May that the
case take place at the federal level. The accusations unveiled
Thursday are part of an investigation into environmental crimes by
Samarco. Federal prosecutors are carrying out a separate
investigation into the human toll after police recommended charges
of "qualified homicide" for the 19 deaths.
A separate civil case filed by federal prosecutors last month
called for 155 billion Brazilian reais ($45.6 billion) in damages,
comparing the fallout from Samarco's disaster to BP's Deepwater
Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 09, 2016 18:24 ET (22:24 GMT)
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