“This company that has destroyed life, wanted to keep going,” said
Escobar, in reference to Commerce Group Corp., a Wisconsin-based outfit
that stopped mining for gold in San Sebastian in 2006 after permit
difficulties. “My kids never get better—they’re always skinny. They
always breathe the river water, they play in there. When I see my kids
suffering, I know others’ are too.”
A 2012 study confirmed Escobar’s fears:
the river next to her home is contaminated with 9 times the acceptable
limit of cyanide, and 1,000 times the acceptable level of iron. Cyanide
is part of the chemical cocktail used on such mining sites to separate
precious metals from excavated rock, and can run off into land and
water.
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/080514_el_salvador_mining/a-corporate-warning-el-salvador-give-up-your-gold-or-pay-315-million/
No comments:
Post a Comment