THE WORST DISASTER IN AMAZON HISTORY – SO FAR

By Lucio Flavio Pinto and - - Reprint | | Print |

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BELEN, Jul 4 2007 (IPS) - The massive spill of kaolin clay waste by the French multinational Imerys on June 11 in Barcarena, Brazil, is the largest environmental accident yet in the Amazon, writes Lucio Flavio Pinto, director of the Jornal Pessoal (Personal Diary), which denounces corruption, impunity, and the economic and ecological consequences of the exploitation of the Amazon. In this article, Pinto writes that unfortunately this is only the latest of a series of incidents in the industrial zone of Barcarena in Para, the largest state of Amazonian Brazil. And it is likely that this type of incident will happen again given the area\’s worrying concentration of industrial activities with serious potential for causing environmental damage. The international interest in the kaolin of Para is due in part to the exceptional quality of the product but also to the fact that other countries have imposed restrictions on mining it that do not exist in Brazil. Para is clearly not receiving what is should from its rich deposits of kaolin. For three decades it has produced kaolin and cellulose, but not paper, which is produced with these ingredients and has a far higher value.

Technical advisors have recommended that the local population be evacuated from the area around the plant because of the contamination of the water.

Unfortunately this is only the latest of a series of incidents in the industrial zone of Barcarena 50 kilometres from Belen, the capital of Para, which is the largest state of Amazonian Brazil. Statistically it is likely that this type of incident will happen again given the area’s worrying concentration of industrial activities with serious potential for causing environmental damage.

Clear evidence for this conclusion can be found in the story of Imerys, the world’s principal producer of kaolin, a clay product with many industrial applications. The company was founded in 1996 with a yearly capacity of 250,000 tonnes of kaolin and had become world leader by the time production reached one million tonnes. The accident occurred just when Imerys expanded its facility to increase production to 1.5 million tonnes per year, investing USD 200 million. At the end of this decade kaolin production in Para –of Imerys and its competitors– is projected to reach 3 million tonnes, making the state the third largest producer in the world of kaolin. It exports all but five percent of the material.

Located next to Imerys is Alunorte, the world’s largest aluminum manufacturer. It too is expanding production, from 4.2 to 6.6 tonnes per year. Another neighbour is Albras, the world’s eighth largest aluminum producer, whose major shareholder, CVRD, in association with a Japanese consortium, is building a 600 megawatt thermoelectric plant to insure Albras’ continued growth. Unfortunately it is a coal-fired plant, the environmental impact of which is all too well known. It was coal use that recently pushed China past the US as the world’s top polluter of the environment.

The location of these and many other potentially environmentally-devastating facilities is one of the most delicate and complex estuaries in Brazil. At one of the confluences of its many bodies of water is Belen, a city of 1.4 million people. The rate of production in this area has increased so fast that its social and ecological impact has been underestimated or ignored. The Imerys spill is a belated wake-up call.

The rupture of the 450,000 cubic metre waste reservoir that resulted in the Imerys spill occurred on June 11 but was not reported to authorities until the following day. It is likely that the material could have been contained if the right measures had been taken promptly. In August 2006 an official inspection found numerous cracks in the reservoir. The problem was clearly not resolved, and Brazilian authorities suspended the plant’s operations as of the day of the accident.

This suspension has had international repercussions given that Imerys has 450 clients around the world. The fear that these clients might exert pressure on the firm because of this accident has induced the company to do everything in its power to minimise the effects of the spill. Imerys has assured that because the material is inert and contains no chemical products it will only affect the downstream water closest to the facility and will eventually disperse without damaging life forms in the area. The Public Health Ministry disagrees and blames the disaster partly on the fact that an Imerys waste treatment plant has not been working for years.

To prevent future damage, the population in the immediate area of the spill –about 250 people– was evacuated.

It is clear that none of the industries located in Barcarena want accidents to happen, but it seems they are not doing all they should to prevent them. The social and environmental measures taken to offset the effects of local industry have fallen far behind as a result of the staggering expansion of these activities. The companies comply with fiscal and tax laws but this isn’t difficult given the important exemptions the state grants to factories that produce semi-finished goods.

The international interest in the kaolin of Para is due in part to the exceptional quality of the product but also to the fact that other countries have imposed restrictions on mining it that do not exist in Brazil. For this reason, English China Clay, which was the largest processor of kaolin until 1999, could not continue its production in Cornwall, UK, where it was based, and was acquired by France’s Imetal, which controls Imerys.

Para is clearly not receiving what is should from its rich deposits of kaolin. For three decades it has produced kaolin and cellulose, but not paper, which is produced with these ingredients and has a higher value. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)