Protesting Pacific Rim Mining Poisoning Rivers in El Salvador

On the eve of World Bank/CAFTA hearing June 1, 2010 in DC, protestors call attention to Pacific Rim's suing El Salvador for not permitting mining gold that would poison half of their rivers with cyanide.

Pacific Rim Mining Corp sought to open a large gold mine in the basin of El Salvador's largest river. The mine would use enormous amounts of water and tons of cyanide to process the ore. Public concerns about serious health, water and environmental issues arose after the first environmental study came out. Business press reports note that Pacific Rim halted its application for a final operating permit and ceased exploratory drilling in 2008.

Meanwhile, in a triumph of democracy after decades of civil war, Salvadoran public concern translated into bipartisan political action. Both the conservative and then left-leaning governments undertook a national review of mining policy.

But instead of continuing with the permitting process, Pacific Rim turned to CAFTA. It reincorporated a Cayman Islands subsidiary in Nevada, and used this new U.S. corporate entity to file a CAFTA case in December 2008. Pacific Rim is using CAFTA's controversial "investor -state" dispute resolution mechanism, which gives corporations the right to directly sue sovereign governments over environmental and other public interest policies they feel could undermine anticipated future profits. As a result, a World Bank tribunal is now empowered to decide whether Pacific Rim's expectation of profit trumps the right of the Salvadoran people to clean water, a sound environment and their democratic rights to determine what is in their national interest. video by Joe Friendly

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• cyanide
• gold
• CISPES
• tradejustice

[gemela56]

robintahoe I live in el El Salvador why dont you come and take a really cold glass of water with me from those rivers because as you said "theres any risk"

[manobaxano]

@robintahoe You are insane. Have you been to this communities in El Salvador? I have and I can tell you that this companies already damaged the environment with their "investigations". You go ahead and drink all the poisoned water you want, maybe even have your own mine around the corner from your house, in canada, US. Would be nice and convenient.

[robintahoe]

The people who are making these videos should really get their facts straight. There was never any risks about poisoning rivers. The government of El Salvador has even admitted that the project was environmentally sound, but politicians are getting paid out by certain NGOs to protest the project regardless.

[ScrappyDooYah]

Is that real?

[joefriendly]

Th3Wab3 commented "I don't understand how they even have a right to sue a country for protecting its people. You really gotta question the way these courts exist and for who." That is what the protesters in Seattle and elsewhere have been complaining about. NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO are about wrongful taking of sovereignty away from nation-states by giant global corporations who can sue national governments in Kangaroo courts for lost profits from passing laws protecting their citizens. Outrageous!

[MoCityDon1508]

LOL