A follow-up on La Oroya, Peru, Doe Run and Renco Group

back in mid-june, i posted on doe run, a subsidiary of renco group... doe run is a precious metals company based in st. louis, with an operation in la oroya, peru... it wasn't a particularly uplifting story, but nevertheless exemplified what many companies do when operating in a country and a regulatory environment where there is little to no accountability...

some key points - and photos - from that post, courtesy of the la times...

* In 2006, the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based environmental advocacy group, named La Oroya among the world's 10 most-polluted places, a list that includes Chernobyl, Ukraine.

* In children, a [blood-lead reading of] 10 micrograms a deciliter, is considered elevated by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials at Doe Run acknowledge that almost every child tested in the Old Town has a blood-lead reading at least double that level.

* A St. Louis University research team said La Oroya faces a "daily toxic cocktail" and labeled the situation "an environmental health crisis."

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Decades of toxic emissions have robbed the nearby mountains of vegetation

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(L) Men and women scrub down a street in La Oroya to wash away lead and other contaminants spewed from the smelter.
(R) Crispin Huaroc, 63, wears rubber gloves as he cleans masks used at the smelter, where he has worked for 37 years.

from ips, there's this...

Far from halting the source that is poisoning the Andean city of La Oroya, which is home to the Doe Run smelting complex, the Peruvian government ordered a contingency plan for the days when air pollution is worst, as if it were dealing with a natural disaster.

[...]

The plan is the result of two years of debates involving citizen groups, non-governmental organisations and the state agencies in charge of carrying it out, as well as representatives of the company, which will provide much of the financing.

[...]

The degree of alert will be determined based on air quality and weather forecasts unfavourable to dispersal of the gases and particulates away from the city, such as lower temperatures and lack of wind. But none of the three levels entails ceasing operations at the smelting plant, [Carlos Rojas, regional coordinator of the government's national environmental council, CONAM] said.

Once a state of alert is ordered, it will be recommended that the most vulnerable -- children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with respiratory or cardiovascular illnesses -- should not be outdoors between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm local time, the worst period of the day for exposure.

Doors and windows of homes, schools and hospitals should be closed, and food sold on the street should be covered.

The population in general should cover mouth and nose with scarves and handkerchiefs when outside. The idea of facemasks was ruled out because "people don't want images that further dramatise the situation," said Rojas.

so, don't reduce the pollution, just stay inside while THIS continues...

The Doe Run complex's main chimney emits an average of 1.5 tonnes of lead and 810 tonnes of sulphur dioxide every 24 hours -- more than four times the maximum allowed under Peruvian legislation, which is 175 tonnes per day of sulphur dioxide, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The same day that CONAM approved the plan, the level of sulphur dioxide recorded over the course of three hours was 12,000 micrograms of sulphur dioxide per cubic metre of air, when the air quality standard only allows 364 micrograms.

Tests also found 330 micrograms per cubic metre of air a composite that includes lead, cadmium and arsenic -- twice the level allowed under air quality standards.

[...]

[A]ccording to CONAM, the emission of this toxic agent is a matter of concern. If the contingency plan were CONAM already in place, a state of emergency would have been declared 183 days so far this year.

hell, they're just peasants in peru... screw 'em...

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