A small step... Peru throws Doe Run out of Peruvian mining association...

i've posted on this corporate atrocity of pollution and greed a number of times (see here) going back to 2006... i see they've finally been called out in peru, not that the damage is going to stop, of course...

Peru's mining, oil and energy association (SNMPE) said Saturday it has expelled US mining company Doe Run from its roster for not cleaning up its pollution problems, which environmentalists say are among the worst in the world.

"It has not shown... any willingness to comply with its environmental commitments and its obligations to the country, its workers, the La Oroya population and its creditors," SNMPE said in a statement.

Doe Run in 1997 took over La Oroya mining complex and the Cobriza copper mine in Peru's central Andean mountain region, where it mines for lead, copper, zinc, silver, gold and a series of byproducts including sulfuric acid.

The US company's La Oroya mining operation was listed in 2007 by the international environmental group Blacksmith Institute as the sixth worst polluted site in the world.

doe run and its twice-removed parent company exemplify all that's bad about big corporations, particularly among the extractive industries, working in the developing world... they feel they can operate with impunity and are frequently able to get away with it not only because governments often times don't have the means to do anything but also because the local people are desperate for jobs and income even if it means that both they and their kids risk death in the bargain... it's bad, totally unethical and should be stopped... we're way, way past due for accountability and respect for human life and human dignity in almost every area of human existence...

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