Honduras: Holding the Mining Industry Accountable

Entremares, a subsidiary of the Canadian-US parent company Goldcorp, has been operating the enormous San Martin gold mine in central Honduras since 1999. Communities in Siria Valley have complained for years that the mine has polluted local rivers, destroyed forests, and dried up the local water supply.

Entremares is using cyanide to extract gold from mined ore. This controversial method has been banned in the state of Montana and severely restricted in several countries.

ELAW advocate Clarisa Vega called on ELAW for help analyzing the environmental and health impacts of this mine. In addition to water quantity and quality problems associated with the mine, soil sediments from the Guajiniquil gully, near the San Martin mine, showed arsenic concentration levels exceeding limits set by the Honduran government and international organizations.

The Government of Honduras imposed a fine of US $55,500 on Entremares in June 2007 for carrying out "polluting and damaging activities." The Honduran Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said the company had broken Honduran environmental laws, as well as its contract with the government, by polluting water supplies with cyanide and arsenic. This is the second time the Honduran government has accepted that a mining company has damaged the environment.

Mines and Their Messes

Honduras This Week (October 29, 2007) reports that after Hurricane Mitch, the General Mining Law of 1998 was passed to kick-start the reconstruction process. The law reduced mineral export taxes, guaranteed mining companies greater access to water supplies, and dismantled many environmental regulations. Between 1999 and 2002, mineral extraction in Honduras tripled, with long-term mining concessions granted to U.S., Canadian, and European companies. But at what cost to Honduras residents?

ELAW advocate Clarisa Vega took this matter to the Honduras Constitutional Court. She claimed that these statutory provisions, which are effectively a giant corporate giveaway, violate the Constitution. In September 2007, the Constitutional Court agreed with Clarisa and revoked the provisions.

A new mining law is making its way through committees of the National Congress. Clarisa is advising NGO advocates who seek to impose tighter controls on the mining industry, through better laws and enforcement of existing laws, to protect the health of communities and build a sustainable future for Honduras.

Landmark Decision for Indigenous Rights

Maya villagers at the Supreme Court of Belize
(Photo: Kat Fowler)

After more than a decade of struggle with the Government of Belize, the customary land rights of the Maya people in southern Belize have been affirmed by the Supreme Court of Belize. The 67-page landmark judgment was delivered by Belize`s Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh on October 18, 2007.

ELAW partner Antoinette Moore represented the Maya villages of Conejo and Santa Cruz in this historic case. The judgment, though issued in response to the Constitutional claim of these two villages, recognizes the right of all of the Maya villages (38 in the Toledo District of southern Belize) to their traditional lands and clearly states that the government has violated the rights of the Maya by its failure to protect their land.

News 7 Belize interviewed Antoinette after the ruling:

"These communities now have something to stand on that says that they own this land… if there is any oil found or … any logging concession, they have a right, a constitutional right, to benefit from those concessions."

ELAW has worked closely with partners at the Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy since 1999. Antoinette participated on BELPO`s behalf in the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting in Oregon.

Indigenous communities around the world are losing both their natural resources and their way of life as multinational companies collude with corrupt governments to sell off natural resources without a thought for the future.

The Government of Belize has now been ordered by the court to demarcate and title indigenous lands, and cease issuing permits for outsiders to use Maya lands, without their consent. This landmark ruling may thwart U.S. Capital Energy`s plans to prospect for oil in Sarstoon-Temash National Park, located on Maya lands in southern Belize.

Antoinette is part of the legal team working with the Sarstoon Temash Institute of Indigenous Management (SATIIM) to challenge oil exploration in Sarstoon-Temash. With ELAW`s support, Antoinette and SATIIM successfully challenged plans by U.S. Capital Energy to conduct seismic testing in the Park without an environmental impact assessment.

Maya villagers head to court (Photo: Kat Fowler)

Africa: Cleaning Up Polluted Places

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Photo: Global Community Monitor (www.gcmonitor.org)

Webuye, Kenya
Community Analyzes Pulp and Paper Mill Emissions

It is difficult to breathe in Webuye, home of East Africa`s largest pulp and paper mill. Visitors report that the air smells like rotten cabbage and "snowstorms" of foam droplets from PanAfrican Paper`s waste ponds cloud the sky and burn the skin. Corrugated iron sheets on the roofs of local homes are corroded within months.

For the first time, grassroots advocates in Webuye have scientific proof documenting the toxic substances that the city`s 80,000 residents are forced to breathe. Air samples taken by ELAW partners in September 2007 were shipped by DHL to a certified laboratory in Simi Valley, California. The results were shocking: the hydrogen sulfide level was more than 500 times the permissible limit in California and more than 140 times the World Health Organization standard.

Scientific proof of contamination is a powerful tool.

ELAW partners at the Resources Conflict Institute (RECONCILE), based in Nakuru, Kenya, are working with a Webuye-based organization (Centre for Environment and Development Education Programmes) to empower local communities to speak out and demand a healthy living environment. Residents are calling for corporate accountability and compensation for pollution victims. They also want industry to provide more jobs and benefits for local people.

Corrugated iron roofs on local homes are corroded within months. Photo: Global Community Monitor (www.gcmonitor.org)

Michael Ochieng Odhiambo, Executive Director at RECONCILE, called on ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik in June 2007, seeking help for the residents of Webuye. Mark connected Michael to Global Community Monitor (GCM) and its "bucket brigade" - an affordable air sampling technology that makes it possible for local communities to find out exactly what they are breathing.

"These are the highest levels of hydrogen sulfide that I have seen since we took our first bucket sample in 1995," says Denny Larson of GCM. With support from ELAW, Denny and Ruth Breech traveled to Webuye in September and trained community members to conduct the sampling exercise.

Mark also helped RECONCILE design a water sampling exercise for the Nzoia River, up and downstream from PanAfrican`s discharge site. Water samples were sent to a certified lab in Nairobi. Test results from the pulp mill effluent showed Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels four to six times the levels permitted by Kenyan water quality regulations.

Mark is working closely with RECONCLIE to interpret the test results and strategize on next steps. In February 2008, Michael will travel to the U.S. to work one-on-one with ELAW staff and participate in speaking engagements through the University of Oregon`s Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics.

PanAfrican Paper Mills

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PanAfrican Paper Mills is a joint venture between the Kenyan Government, the International Finance Corporation (the private investment arm of the World Bank), and Orient Paper Mills, part of the Birhla group from India. The mill was established in Webuye in 1974 on the banks of the Nzoia River, which drains into Lake Victoria. The team that visited the area in September said little or no pollutants are removed from the factory`s liquid waste before it enters the river, with the exception of gases and foam which blow offsite, uncontrolled.

Denny`s September trip report quotes a medical technician at the local hospital who speaks from her own experience:

"I have been directly affected by living next to Pan Paper and we have suffered for a long time. It is very difficult for common people to reach up and be heard by the leaders at Pan Paper. My husband died and it is difficult for a widow to forge ahead for the safety of the family. People tell you to keep quiet, but now it is the right time to speak out. Babies are being born with chest and breathing problems. Our children will have no future if they are born sick into this world."

Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
Steelworks must improve pollution control

In South Africa, Mittal`s steel manufacturing plant in Vanderbijlpark is among the worst emitters of air pollution on the African continent. In 2006, Mittal submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) seeking to expand production at its facility by 50 percent. ELAW partners at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Johannesburg called on ELAW for help protecting disadvantaged communities from these toxic emissions.

ELAW scientists studied the EIA and discovered that pollution at Mittal`s facility in Vanderbijlpark far exceeds pollution from facilities that Mittal owns and operates in the U.S., due to lack of pollution control equipment. LRC used ELAW`s analysis to call on the government to approve Mittal`s expansion plans only if the company vastly improves the environmental performance of the Vanderbijlpark plant.

In December 2006, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment agreed to allow Mittal to expand operations at its facility in Vanderbijlpark only if it committed to using the best pollution control technology for new production units and if the company agreed to substantially reduce its current emissions. Mittal appealed the decision.

The Ministry of Environmental Affairs upheld the decision: Mittal must substantially reduce its current emissions before expanding operations.

China Report: Taking it to the Streets

Q & A with Cai Xianfeng

Cai Xianfeng teaches environmental law at Ningbo University Law School. The school`s 1,000 students are required to study environmental law. Cai is working to expand the university`s law school clinic to include environmental cases. During a ten-week ELAW Fellowship in Eugene he is work­ing with staff to learn about environmental clinics and strategize about Ningbo`s clinic. Cai is also studying English at the University of Oregon`s American English Institute.

Law students from Ningbo University School of Law offer free legal services to residents.

Where is Ningbo University?

Ningbo (pop. 6 million) is on China’s southeast coast, close to Hangzhou and Shanghai. Hangzhou is a very famous and beautiful city. Shanghai (pop. 16 million) is the largest city in China. There is a new bridge across Hangzhou Bay, connecting Ningbo to Shanghai. It is 36 kilometers long and will open in 2008. This is reportedly the longest bridge in the world. It will take us just two hours to reach Shanghai by bus or car.

How does the Ningbo University Law School Clinic work?

We established the clinic in 2003 and have six lawyers, who are also law professors. We receive about 700 complaints every year and take about 30 cases to court. Law students answer the phone and receive visitors five days a week. We have plans to expand to seven days. Students listen to citizens’ complaints (including complaints about pollution), create a written record, and work with a supervising attorney to decide which claims have merit. We are ready to supplement the existing legal clinic with environmental cases. This will have a good influence on East and South China, and on the environmental law training and teaching at the law school.

What are you learning at ELAW?

My visit to ELAW has been a very positive experience. I learned how ELAW operates and protects the environment through law across borders. I learned how to launch a public interest environmental clinic and how to apply and evaluate scientific data in environmental cases. I met and learned from local lawyers, judges, NGO leaders, and law professors. I also studied English at the American English Institute. I am grateful to ELAW for providing the Fellowship and to ELAW staff for their kind help.

Environmental Heroes -- Wang Canfa and Zhang Jingjing

Wang Canfa and Zhang Jingjing in Yachats, Oregon, at the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting.

Time Magazine has chosen Wang Canfa, director of the Beijing-based Center for Legal Assistance to Pollu­tion Victims (CLAPV), as a "Hero of the Environment" in a special Octo­ber 2007 double issue. CLAPV lead attorney Zhang Jingjing shares the spotlight in CNN`s "Planet in Peril" se­ries, with a report on her work helping villagers in Liangqiao hold a mining company accountable for polluting the Hengshui River.

Since 1999, CLAPV has received thousands of complaints from Chinese citizens through the Center`s 24-hour telephone hotline. CLAPV has taken many cases to court and won victories, including a $730,000 ruling against a paper mill and chemical plant in Shan­dong province, after illegal discharges led to massive kills at fish farms.

ELAW has collaborated with CLAPV since 2005. Wang Canfa, Zhang Jingjing, and CLAPV attorney Ma Yan have all participated in ELAW Fellow­ships. CLAPV staff member Qu Xiao Xia will travel to Eugene for a ten-day ELAW Fellowship in December 2007.

ELAW Volunteers

These lawyers, scientists, students, retirees, and other professionals provide legal and scientific research, computer support, language translation, and other valuable services, including hosting visitors and stuffing envelopes!

Left to right: Vannia Glasinovic, Zach Klonoski, Bryan Ferrari, Jolene Goodnight, Sam Gaugush and Betsy Bridge

ELAW could not perform
its high impact work without
these generous volunteers.

Thank you,
Environmental Heroes!

Welcome new board members and Liz Mitchell

ELAW welcomes new board members Maisie Grace and Scott Pope, and staff attorney Liz Mitchell.

Maisie is regional counsel for the Federal Transit Administration in New York City. Before beginning a career in law, Maisie was one of a very few women commercial pilots. From 1979 to 1985, she flew for a number of commuter airlines and she continued to fly for Trump Shuttle and Eastern Airlines while attending law school.

Scott is the Senior Investment Advisor for Sustainable Wealth Management in Eugene. Scott is currently on the board of the Institute for Sustainable Economics and Ethics, and has served environmental and human services organizations in Oregon.

Liz graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law with a certificate in Natural Resources Law in 1994. She holds a B.A. from Middlebury College. She serves on the board of directors for the Wood River Land Trust and the Oregon Clean Water Action Project.