Anger Grows in Brazil After Dam Failures
November 12 2015 - 9:16PM
Dow Jones News
By John Lyons
SÃO PAULO--President Dilma Rousseff flew on Thursday over towns
devastated by the failure of two mining dams last week, as anger
mounted over what critics say has been a weak and slow government
response to an accident that left a trail of damage hundreds of
miles long.
The collapse of two dams at an iron-ore mine operated by a joint
venture between Brazil's Vale SA and Australia's BHP Billiton sent
62 million cubic meters of mining mud flooding through remote
mountain valleys on Nov. 5, ripping apart small colonial towns and
leaving at least eight people dead. Searchers are using poles to
prod lakes of mud for the at least 19 people still missing,
including children.
On Thursday, Ms. Rousseff said the mine's operator, Samarco
Mineração SA, and its owners Vale and BHP Billiton, broke federal
environmental and other laws.
She announced an initial $66 million fine against Samarco and
vowed to hold the three companies responsible for what she called
Brazil's "biggest environmental disaster to affect large regions of
the country."
The president spoke in Governador Valadares, a riverside city
some 200 miles from the mining accident that has been without
drinking water for days. The river there is bright orange with
mining waste.
Ms. Rousseff's visit to the region--her first since the disaster
seven days earlier--came amid growing criticism of her
administration's slow response and of its regulation of the mining
companies.
"There seems to have been a total indifference among all parties
about the plight of the victims in this disaster, the people who
didn't receive aid, the children who died, the rivers that have
been destroyed, " said Sandra Cureau, a federal prosecutor in
Brazil's attorney general's office who is responsible for
environmental issues.
Ms. Cureau said the dams, which hold back permanent lakes of
mine waste, shouldn't have been approved without an alarm system to
signal their failure to towns below. Safety plans at the mine site
are likely to come under scrutiny, she said.
Ms. Cureau said she was seeking to form a task force to pursue
civil and criminal penalties related to the accident.
The federal task force would come in addition to any future
lawsuits at the state level.
A state prosecutor has said there is evidence Vale was
depositing extra waste from an unrelated mine behind the dams,
adding to the possibility that the containment dams were at or
beyond capacity.
The breach unleashed a flood of sludge so vast it could fill the
Dallas Cowboys' football stadium more than 20 times, swamping towns
and villages 45 miles from the accident. The mining mud eventually
reached the Doce River, killing fish and wildlife and forcing
cities to suspend water treatment as the orange water flows to the
sea.
Much of the rescue work in the first 48 hours was carried out by
volunteers, such as local off-road-vehicle clubs. Brazilian federal
emergency teams that responded to big floods in recent years
weren't deployed in this case.
"The situation is too grave for all of the responsible to just
sit and watch the rescue workers get stuck in the mud caused by
their neglect and incompetence," wrote Miriam Leitao, one of
Brazil's most widely read columnists, in the O Globo newspaper.
Government and company officials haven't explained why the dams
broke. BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie and Vale Chief
Executive Murilo Ferreira have said their firms hold no
responsibility since the dams are run by the limited-liability
company Samarco. Vale and BHP have owned Samarco on a 50-50 basis
since 2000.
Some people don't want the mine operators punished. The mayor of
Mariana, the municipality where the mines collapsed, has already
called on state and federal regulators not to shut down mining
operations as a result of the accident. Mining revenue accounts for
around 80% of the city's annual budget.
State and municipal officials coordinating the rescue efforts
are working out of the mining company's corporate headquarters on
the outskirts of Mariana.
The Brazilian joint owner of the failed dam, Vale, is the
world's biggest iron ore producer, and plays a critical role in
Brazil's economy as a whole. Brazil's government is a shareholder
in Vale and wields influence in its boardrooms. Brazil's Minister
of Mines and Energy has called for caution in the investigation of
the mining accident to avoid rushing to judgment.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 12, 2015 21:01 ET (02:01 GMT)
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