A mining company's $300 million attack on El Salvador's water
A mining company's $300 million attack on El Salvador's water
Pete Dolack
5th October 2014
OceanaGold is demanding $300 million in compensation from impoverished El Salvador after a mining permit was refused to safeguard a clean drinking water source that millions of people depend on, writes Pete Dolack. The sum does not even represent losses - but profits the company claims it would have made.
An Australian mining company insists its 'right' to a guaranteed profit is superior to the right of El Salvador to clean drinking water - and an unappealable World Bank secret tribunal will decide if that is so.
Drinking water is the underdog here. It might be thought that Salvadorans ought to have the right to decide on a question as fundamental as their source of water, but that is not so. It will be up to a secret tribunal controlled by corporate lawyers.
And as an added bit of irony, the hearing began on El Salvador's Independence Day, September 15. Formal independence, and actual independence, alas, are not the same thing.
More:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2562735/a_mining_companys_300_million_attack_on_el_salvadors_water.html