New Environmental Management Plan for La Oroya Approved
14 June 2006
Peruvian government gives company until 2009 to cut emissions and improve the environment in La Oroya.
The government of Peru announced on May 29 that it would extend the deadline for the Doe Run Peru Corporation to comply with environmental standards it committed to reach when it bought the metal smelter in La Oroya in 1997. This is the fourth extension of the deadline for compliance with the environmental management plan. The firm now has until 2009 to meet its obligations to reduce harmful pollution emanating from the plant, including lead dust and sulfur dioxide.
The Movement for the Health of La Oroya (known by its Spanish initials MOSAO) and the “Mesa Técnica,” or Technical Roundtable that advises them, released a statement criticizing the government’s decision. “Despite overwhelming evidence of toxic metal contamination and Doe Run’s history of non-compliance with Peruvian law, Minister [of Energy and Mines] Sanchez decided to award the company with continued impunity,” stated Eliana Ames, Coordinator of MOSAO’s Technical Roundtable. “If the company has not complied with its agreements in nine years, what guarantees its compliance now?”
Oxfam America supports the work of the five-member Mesa Técnica which advises MOSAO, and helped pay for a recent public health study carried out by the University of St. Louis that showed a severe health crisis in the area. Oxfam America supporters and activists in Peru and 52 other countries submitted 16,000 letters to Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines calling for a rejection of Doe Run’s request.
According to MOSAO and the Mesa Técnica, public pressure forced the government to reduce the extension from four years, as requested in Doe Run Peru’s initial application, to two years and 10 months. The Ministry of Energy and Mines also complied with suggestions by the World Bank and the Archbishop of Junín to consult an expert panel of three specialists in industrial technology, air quality, and environmental health while considering Doe Run Peru’s request.
Following the government’s decision, MOSAO and the Mesa Técnica have requested more citizen involvement in the monitoring of the plant’s environmental management to ensure compliance with the new agreement. The Ministry of Energy and Mine’s technical report allows for such a role, but it does not include MOSAO.
MOSAO’s efforts have drawn international attention to the health crisis facing La Oroya’s population, where it says each day the Doe Run Peru smelter releases more than 1,000 tons of toxic emissions. Based on the health risk analysis presented to the government by Doe Run Peru, US scientist Dr. Mark Chernaik recently calculated the projected cancer rates in La Oroya to be 2,000 times higher than the maximum level considered acceptable by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
