Mining giant faces UK trial | The Arkansas Democratic Gazette

LONDON — Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster filed suit Monday seeking compensation in a British court, nearly nine years after tons of toxic mining waste spilled into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities.

The class action brought before the High Court in London seeks damages estimated at $47 billion from global mining giant BHP. That would make it the largest environmental payment ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

“The claimants respectfully submit that BHP’s responsibility to compensate them for their losses is, ultimately, simple and obvious,” lawyer Alain Choo Choy said in his written submissions. “BHP is a polluter and must therefore pay.”

BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where a tailings dam failed on November 5, 2015, releasing enough mining waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools into the Doce River in the southeast. east of Brazil. The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was then based in London.

BHP’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, said in written submissions that the claim had “no basis”. BHP neither owned nor operated the dam, adding that BHP “had limited knowledge of the dam and was unaware that its stability was compromised.”

The lawsuit comes days after BHP announced that the company and its Samarco partner, Vale SA, were negotiating a deal with Brazilian public authorities that could provide $31.7 billion for people, communities and the environment damaged.

BHP said it believes the UK’s action is unnecessary because it duplicates issues covered by remediation efforts and legal proceedings in Brazil. But Pogust Goodhead said in a statement that the potential settlement should have no impact on the case.

“Such timing only proves that the companies responsible for Brazil’s largest environmental disaster are determined to do everything they can to prevent victims from seeking justice and are prepared to perpetuate the shameful behavior they demonstrated during of the last nine years,” the company said. .

BHP, based in Melbourne, Australia, said the possible settlement would resolve a complaint filed by Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and other complaints from Brazilian public authorities.

“BHP will continue to defend the (UK) action, which it considers unnecessary as it duplicates issues already covered by ongoing remedial works and legal proceedings in Brazil,” BHP said on Saturday.

The disaster destroyed two villages, killed 14 tonnes of freshwater fish and damaged 410 miles of the River Doce, according to a University of Ulster study.

The river, which the Krenak natives worship as a deity, has been so polluted that it has yet to recover.

FILE – Rescue workers search for victims in Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, two days after a mud tsunami, caused by a burst dam, engulfed the town in Minas Gerais state on November 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

Protesters stand outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Monday October 21, 2024, as lawyers representing around 620,000 Brazilians as well as businesses, city governments and members of the indigenous Krenak tribe take legal action from several billion pounds against the BHP group. following the collapse of the Fundao dam in November 2015. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

FILE – A car and two dogs lie on the roof of destroyed houses in the small town of Bento Rodrigues after a dam burst in Minas Gerais state, Brazil, November 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

Protesters stand outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London Monday October 21, 2024, as lawyers representing around 620,000 Brazilians as well as businesses, city governments and members of the indigenous Krenak tribe file a multi-jurisdictional lawsuit billion pounds against the BHP group following the collapse of the Fundao dam in November 2015. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)