Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Mining Co. Sued for Polluting

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, May 3 2010 (IPS) - The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor Aldo Santos reported that the mining company Entremares, subsidiary of the Canadian consortium Glamis Gold, will be charged with polluting the central valley of Siria and of hiding information from the authorities. Santos told Tierramérica that former officials of the governmental Secretariat of Environment's mining development bureau, DEFOMIN, will face charges for “complicity.”

“The legal requirements are nearly ready. We have valuable documentation and testimonies to successfully bring this case before the tribunals,” he said.

Entremares, which began operating a decade ago in the Siria valley, was already sued – unsuccessfully – by the area's residents for damages to health and destruction of the environment.

Nevertheless, Santos said that now the prosecutors have documents that were hidden in DEFOMIN and which prove the contamination occurred, and violated the technical standards for discharging wastewater.