Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumMeet the Company Suing El Salvador for the Right to Poison Its Water
Meet the Company Suing El Salvador for the Right to Poison Its Water
In an obscure World Bank court, a multinational mining firm is suing El Salvador for attempting to protect its citizens from deadly mining pollution.
By Robin Broad and John Cavanagh, September 3, 2014.
An obscure tribunal housed at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. will soon decide the fate of millions of people.
At issue is whether a government should be punished for refusing to let a foreign mining company operate because it wants to protect its main source of water.
The case pits El Salvadors government against a Canadian gold-mining company that recently became part of a larger Australian-based corporation. When OceanaGold bought Pacific Rim last year, it identified the Salvadoran mining prospects as a key asset, even though gold prices have sunk by more than a third from their 2011 high of more than $1,900 an ounce.
The cases implications are chilling. If the company wins, this small country will have to either let the company mine or pay hundreds of millions of dollars.
More:
http://fpif.org/meet-company-suing-el-salvador-right-poison-water/
Nihil
(13,508 posts)unhappycamper
(60,364 posts)Nothing to see here, move along......
FBaggins
(26,731 posts)Nothing of the sort is "at issue". A sovereign state does have the right to refuse to allow a mining company to mine on their soil... and that's whether they have a good reason to or not. What they can't do is enter into an arrangement to allow them to mine... and then change the rules after investments are made... without compensating the company.
The time to make such decisions is before you let them in the country.