Argentine opponents of open-pit mining suffered a big blow on Dec. 29, when the southern province of Río Negro repealed a six-year-old ban on the use of cyanide and mercury in mining projects. When the measure was enacted in 2005, the provincial legislature—controlled at the time by Argentina’s opposition Radical Party—approved it by a margin of 38 to 3. The repeal came on a proposal last month by Río Negro Governor Carlos Soria. Soria—who on Jan. 1 was shot dead, allegedly by his wife, in an unrelated incident following a New Year’s celebration—was allied with Argentine President Cristina Kirchner. Kirchner has strongly supported the development of large-scale mining in Argentina and has seen some environmental advocates leave...
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After being shuttered for more than two and a half years, a controversial smelter and refinery complex high in the Andes could resume operations soon. The smelter, owned by Doe Run Peru, a subsidiary of the New York-based Renco Group, has been blamed for health and environmental problems for years. The complex in La Oroya, about 175 kilometers (109 miles) east of Lima, mainly processes copper, lead and zinc. It was idled in June 2009, in the wake of the international financial crisis, after banks cut off the credit the company used to purchase mineral concentrates from providers. (See “In Peru, pollution-prone Doe Run idles plant”—EcoAméricas, July 2009.) The company declared bankruptcy and went into receivership, launching a process supervised by Peru’s...
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Chevron’s recent 3,000-barrel offshore oil-drilling spill in Brazil has prompted a wave of government fines, lawsuits and indictment recommendations aimed at putting other oil companies on notice that accidents will be costly and might be treated as criminal. The Chevron spill was detected Nov. 8 in the Frade field, 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast of the southeastern state of Rio de Janeiro. Oil seeped from sea-floor fissures because the drilling crew, underestimating the pressure in the reservoir it was tapping, didn’t feed heavy enough mud into the bore hole to prevent oil from rising before the hole was lined with steel casing. Chevron, which acknowledged responsibility for the spill and has since lost permission to drill in Brazil, drew scathing...
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Brazil and Mexico are among the 10 top climate performers of nearly 60 countries listed in an annual ranking issued by two European nonprofits that track energy and climate issues. Brazil, with its extensive use of hydropower and ethanol fuel, and Mexico, which is credited for critical leadership on climate issues, ranked seventh and tenth, respectively, in the 2012 Climate Change Performance Index. Sweden, the United Kingdom and Germany stood at the top of the list while Kazakhstan, Iran and Saudi Arabia brought up the rear. The United States ranked No. 52 in the 58-nation comparison. The annual index is produced by Germanwatch, based in Bonn and Berlin, and Climate Action Network Europe, headquartered in Brussels. It tracks the performance of 58 countries that...
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