Reaction to CNN’s “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” on Toxic La Oroya Mines
It was with a mixture of anger, grief and hope that I watched CNN’s broadcast of “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” last Thursday night. Fifteen minutes of the show focused on the toxic contamination of the Doe Run Peru smelting planet in La Oroya, which is one of the 10 most polluted places on earth, along with Chernobyl.
- Peruvian baby breathing in toxic fumes from Doe Run Peru smelting plant; 98% of children in La Oroya suffer from extreme lead poisoning.
Some U.S. critics are quibbling that the show was “stunt journalism” interspersed with flimsy reporting, a charge they base largely on reporter/producer Anderson Cooper’s segment on swimming with great white sharks. (See Joel Achenberg’s attack in Achenblog Dec. 12.)
Criticisms like Achenberg’s lack perspective: There was much excellent journalism on the show, and if Anderson Cooper has to swim with some great whites to lure more U.S. viewers to serious news topics, I say, Fine. The majority of Americans barely gives a thought to lead poisoning in the Andes, animal-spread pandemics in Africa or the ethics of killing sharks for their fins, to name a few issues explored in “Planet in Peril: Battle Lines” (PIP). Americans are too busy following the antics of Britney and Dancing with the Stars, which are constantly paraded as “news” by U.S. media outlets. We need more shows like PIP and further reports that go in depth on the issues.
Given the crumbling state of U.S. journalism, PIP was a rare step in the right direction, as Eliza notes on Anderson Cooper 360 Review. Sadly, as Eliza points out, ratings for the show were poor among U.S. viewers. She comments that:
Apparently people are more interested in hearing about one little girl that’s been missing for months. Pretty ironic when you think about all the children being sickened in Peru. *sigh* What are you gonna do?
Eliza’s analysis is spot-on.
Meanwhile, among expats in Peru initial reaction to PIP appears to be centered on the issues, not on Anderson Cooper’s reporting methods. (See Ward’s post on “MIning and Environmental Proctions in Peru” and Stuart’s “House of Lead: A Story of Greed.”) That’s because living in Peru means witnessing poverty, hunger, scarce resources and other problems first-hand. So little is done to improve conditions in Peru, and so little attention is paid by the outside world, that when a major network like CNN sends its chief medical correspondent to expose a tragedy like La Oroya, we here in Peru say, Finally!
(In a troubling side note, American Fulbright scholar Corey, who blogs at Con Mis Proprias Ojos, wrote about the Oroya disaster in October and was contacted within 24 hours of posting by Doe Run Peru, which sent him skewed statistics in an attempt to change Corey’s position, says the scholar. Corey subsequently deleted his post on “The Father of La Oroya” and has not posted any analysis of Doe Run Peru since. I find his silence worrisome. Without explanation, my imagination tends to run wild: Does Doe Run Peru have a gun to the scholar’s head? Is the Fulbright Foundation pressuring him to abstain from blogging? Is it just a case of a young scholar feeling intimidated?)
You can read here about the ghastly toxic conditions at La Oroya, which Doe Run Peru was supposed to clean up starting 10 years ago but has done so only partly, with limited results. (Note that Doe Run’s lead smelting plant in MIssouri produces 1/20 the emissions that the La Oroya plant does.) In the meantime, nearly the entire under-18 population of La Oroya (98%) has severe lead poisoning in their bloodstreams, the air is still foul, and La Oroya is still no place for human beings to live. (Welcome to Cancer City, Peru.)
The mining company continues to dump metal contaminants into the Mantaro River, polluting one of the main water sources in Peru’s central Andes, reports Peruvian Times.
So much for La Oroya’s bullsh*t publicity release “Doe Run Peru Marks 11th Anniversary in La Oroya with Significant Emissions Reductions” of November 4, which some English-language web sites ran as a news article. (Please gag me.) That word “significant” is so insulting given that emission levels are still toxic, and as CNN’s show demonstrated, children are dying from lead levels on La Oroya.
No wonder some Peruvian bloggers are furious with Doe Run Peru’s management. Here’s a Photoshopped portrait of DRP’s jefe Juan Carlos Huyhua as an ass, which was recently published on Huanca-York Times:
CNN’s segment on La Oroya left one important thread hanging: How can concerned viewers help stop Doe Run Peru and its billionaire owner Ira Rennert from poisoning more people in La Oroya?
My preliminary research has turned up a few organizatiaons that are working toward solutions. Please feel free to visit these sites and to give me your feedback.
Oxfam America: Call for Clean Up in La Oroya
Save La Oroya (English and Spanish site)
Peruvian Society for Environmental Law
Related Posts:
What You Can Do to Save the People of La Oroya (Dec. 16)
Toxic La Oroya Mine Profiled Dec. 11 on CNN’s Planet in Peril: Battle Lines (Dec. 10)
Barbara
I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.
14 Comments
Corey
Interesting post, Barbara. I posted a quasi-response on my blog if you are interested.
http://www.coreyinperu.blogspot.com
Tom Kruzen
Barack Obama’s government should stop buying Rennert’s Hummers. We should all pressure the US and Peru to move the people out of La Oroya and Herculaneum, Missouri. No human being should be living within a mile of a heavy metal smelter…anywhere. Despite CNN’s comparison, Herculaneum is NOT a healthy place to live either, even though it looks visibly “cleaner”. This week, Herculaneum’s high school was labled in the top percentile of toxic schools this week by a USA Survey. Rennert may not be responsible for the 80-110 years of pollution at both smelters but he bought broken machines and poisoned ground. He also bought the moral responsibility to keep people in those places out of danger. Write Obama at: http://www.change.org
Barb
Hi, Corey,
I wish you had posted your response on this blog as well. Feel free to copy your comments and post again, since my readers would like to read them also. (I can’t post comments on your blog because it doesn’t allow Name/URL comments. You could change that on your Comments section.) As you say, there are many sides to the mining crisis in Peru, and the more input I can share on this blog, the better. I like seeing things from many sides.
I’m glad you’ve broken your silence and explained why you removed the post on The Father of La Oroya. (Readers: Doe Run isn’t threatening Corey, and the Fulbright program didn’t pressure him either to remove the post.)
As I understand it, you don’t want to place all the blame for the La Oroya mess on Ira Rennert, and it appears that your original post came down hard on him. (I don’t know since the post was removed.)
Not having read it, I’m nevertheless going to jump in in favor of condeming the owner of Renco. I’m not a scholar so I can take that liberty — no doubt if you’re trying to study the various forces at play right here in Peru, being anti-Ira would run counter to maintaining a scholarly distance. I understand! (Heck, I was a grad student too, once upon a time…)
I think it’s great that you’re here in Peru to focus on issues around mining and La Oroya. Keep at it. You mention being under the impression that few people read your blog — don’t be so sure! I’d check my stats if I were you. Your blog popped up on the first page of Google blog searches for La Oroya this morning, and coreyinperu.blogspot.com is indexed on 30 Google pages.
You sound a bit irked or shaken in your response, but I am not going to apologize for my post because the teacher in me (I taught writing to undergrads in the U.S.) is pleased that you’re writing again and about something that is so important.
Now is the moment to explain what is happening with La Oroya (yes, again!) because for a brief moment, thanks to CNN, you’ve got the world’s ear. You might be able to contribute new insights or connect with people who need a contact on the ground in Peru.
This is a great time to be blogging in Peru about La Oroya. Carpe diem.
Barb
Tom — thanks for joining the conversation.
I am not an expert on mining pollution or how one goes about solving this (there are many environmental blogger who cover these issues); however, the idea you mention of relocating the towns makes so much sense.
The workers and their families should not live close to the mines. (This is something my husband, referred to in this blog as El Fotografo, said the other day. He used to be a disaster specialist for the Am Red Cross.) A longer commute would be less convenient but safer for workers.
Yes, Tom, I agree that Rennert bought the place the place to make money, and so since it’s his, he should do right by the people and the environment.
I am very interested to learn more about the problems at Herculaneum. The CNN special made it seem like the Missouri plant was not polluting the area (El Fotografo scoffed at that, since he’s been to Herculaneum.)
Can you recommend any sites with more info about the Missouri Doe Run plant? My blog focuses on Peru (where there is little environmental oversight) but more than 50% of the people who visit this blog live in the U.S. and I’m sure they would be interested.
Miguel
As a Peruvian, and I think many Peruvians ponder why people continue to live there.
I have always thought it was because people wanted to live there, and their lack of knowledge about the pollution, and this is probably because they are Quechua speakers.
Besides that, I think the company should stop operating; it just causes to much pollution to the environment. I remember that there was a factory in Lima that polluted a lot,but probably not as much as this one, and they got it to close.
So, I hope that more Peruvians get to know about this, so that there is social pressure to close this place.
Sara
Hi Barb,
Thank you for blogging on this important subject. I’m a freelance journalist and former environmental reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I have been to La Oroya and Herculaneum.
While it’s true that Herculaneum is much cleaner than La Oroya – in part because the U.S. EPA eventually forced Doe Run to clean up there, which the Peruvian government has not done in La Oroya – CNN’s piece inaccurately portrayed Herculaneum as a problem that’s been solved.
I hope you’ll forgive my self-promotion, but you can learn a lot about the relationship between the two towns in my story that ran in Mother Jones magazine in 2006: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2006/11/lead_astray.html
Please also see my website for a story that ran in The Nation about religious leaders putting pressure on Ira Rennert:
http://www.sarashipleyhiles.com/stories/14.html
Another new wrinkle is that the U.S. EPA recently slashed the lead air quality standard to one-tenth of what it has been since 1978. This means that Doe Run will have to reduce its emissions in Herculaneum even more. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27216428/ for more info.
All the best,
Sara
Barb
Sara, thanks for posting the links to your stories. I referenced your Mother Jones piece in my first post on the CNN special (Dec. 10). What an important story. Thanks for reminding me (graciously) that it emphasizes how Herculeum is contaminated as well.
Also thanks for clarifying the inaccuracies in the CNN special. Gupta’s reporting gave the impression that in the interval between your MJ piece and now, Herculeum cleaned up its act.
I will read the Nation piece on Rennert and religious leaders with interest.
Readers: please take the time to read Sara Shipley Hiles’ stories on La Oroya, Renco and mining in Peru. Sara is being modest: she is an award-winning environmental writer who has done so much to bring to light the suffering and environmental devastation caused by Doe Run and Doe Run Peru.
Reporting in depth on these issues is very tough. Journalists must spend time in dangerous, contaminated regions, asking tough questions of callous businessmen and gaining the trust of workers who fear losing their jobs for speaking out.
Ward Welvaert
I think the mixed reaction to the CNN story in the US was predictable, since the issue of environmental protection runs into belief systems with a lot of people. You know, if it comes from CNN it must be liberal baloney, if it comes from FOX News it must be a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Sadly, issues like “La Oroya” are no place to argue ideologies or belief systems, but rather a place for engineers and scientists to go and do whatever is needed to clean the mess up.
BTW- thanks for mentioning my post, Barb 🙂
Jacob Goad
Hey Barb,
It is important to maintain credibility in this debate about what is going on in La Oroya, and for a topic of such vital importance for the people of La Oroya, where most children have lead levels that exceed what the World Health Organization says is safe, it is important to be precise and not make too many assumptions.
There is a lot of scientific evidence here (blood level studies, air quality studies, soil studies, dust levels, etc.) on this case that clearly implicates both the company and the Peruvian government.
The CNN “Planet in Peril: Battlelines” segment did not talk a lot about the government’s responsibility in protecting the people of La Oroya, which is unfortunate.
One of the things that has become increasingly clear as I have been living in Peru and following the case of La Oroya is to see that the government has written reports condemning contamination in La Oroya and then later not taking its own advise to enact precautionary measures. The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, OSINERGMIN, and the Ministry of the Environment are all now implicated in the public health crisis in La Oroya. Minister Brack of the Ministry of the Environment would do well to use the authority that has been given to him to begin to address the situation in La Oroya with all of the ministers.
On the other hand, the company must fulfill its environmental obligations by complying with the PAMA(Program de Adecuacion y Manejo Ambiental). It appears that it has not been complying with the PAMA, and so that is why the government (OSINERGMIN) must be pressured to apply the needed sanctions and to follow up on fines that have not been paid. I’d be glad to send you the format of a letter to write OSINERGMIN.
Perhaps the most important action that could be taken, which was explained well by CNN, is for the company and its owner, Ira Rennert, to apply all of the same technologies in La Oroya that are being used in Herculaneum, so as not “environmentally discriminate” against the children of Peru. That was the question that I raised with CNN when they were down here in Peru. It is clear that even if the company were to comply with its environmental responsibilities, then it still wouldn’t bring pollution levels down to Herculaneum’s levels, even from a couple of years ago. Please remember what Tom Kruzen said. Herculaneum is no paradise either.
The Peruvian government must be persuaded by the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (part of the OAS) to take steps that would change the emissions situation in La Oroya.
Also, the contaminated soil around La Oroya must be remediated and that responsibility also falls mostly on the shoulders of the government.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to invite you to a few different websites where you can find more information about La Oroya and Ira Rennert.
http://www.manosperu.org
http://www.savelaoroya.org
http://www.amigosdelaoroya.org
You may also join the facebook group “La Oroya que Soñamos”
Thanks for listening.
Jacob Goad
Also, for more information on emissions in La Oroya please check out:
Real time stats:
http://www.digesa.minsa.gob.pe/aire/index.aspx
Monthly monitoring reports:
http://www.osinerg.gob.pe/newweb/pages/GFM/1526.htm
Peace,
Jacob
Barb
Ward — you’re welcome. Your perspective as a humanitarian businessperson (business-oriented?) person living in Peru is appreciated. 🙂
Ah, Jacob — Thanks for sharing with my readers details on the interrelations between Doe Run Peru and the Peruvian gov’t. I agree that both entities share blame, but I believe it takes influence from outside agencies to put pressure on the Peruvian gov’t to change its practices.
Gracias for the links. Great that there’s a Facebook Group for La Oroya.
Readers: If you care about these issues, please visit ManosPeru.org and the other credible links suggested by Jacob and Sara. And do what you can to help. Keeping this subject alive is KEY right now because it affords an opportunity (finally) for the parties responsible for this tragedy to own up, and for real, lasting solutions to be put into effect.
Many Peruvians despair of there being any real change, but those of us who have seen environmental proction acts put into effect and enforced in other countries know that change can and does happen. (Example: U.S. ban on CFC’s in aerosol sprays in the late ’70s, which has decreased ozone-depleting CFCs in the environment.)
Sharon
I am thankful that anyone…anyone at all did a story on the lead contamination in Peru. However, I would like to see a story done with the title, ‘The Two Faces of Doe Run’. You see, Doe Run is a beloved company in the communities that they operate in. This is orchestrated by Doe Run, in order to keep people quiet, smooth them over, and slap a smile on their face. They sponser so many things in the community that people get to thinking about all the ‘goodies’ that would be lost if Doe Run packed up and moved away. I was shocked to find out how many people would defend the company that was contaminating them and their families. It seemed that they were in some sort of denial not unlike something you would see on the ‘Twilight Zone’.
The story that was done with the people in Peru showed much the same sort of thing. Doe Run gives them a school and employs so many of their people, that if the company pulled out, the community would be finacially impacted very heavily.
I live in the Herculaneum, Missouri school district here in the United States where the ‘other’ Doe Run facility is located. They still do not have that site cleaned up to the satisfaction of the EPA. They continue to pollute and we continue to let them.
It has been such an uphill battle to go against Doe Run here, that I feel very sorry for the people of Peru. They may never get any real help.
I went to Herculaneum Schools from 1984-1989. (There is a Junior High and a High School located in close proximity to the lead smelter.) This is the period of time just before Doe Run got concerned enough to build a new smoke stack, and put in the bag house that is supposed to filter out the sulphur dioxide and turn it into sulphuric acid that is a sellable product. During that time, the contamination was visible in the air, you could taste it in your mouth as you breathed it in, you had to wipe the yellow residue off your car everyday, and people just accepted it as a reality. There was a yellow cloud that laid like a thick fog in the air choking the environment to the point that gym teachers would not allow class to be held outdoors. When a student, like myself, would run the track around the football field, it tasted like sucking on a book of matches, because the sulphur dioxide was so very thick in the air. What we didn’t know, was that there were other harmful heavy metals that came along with the sulphur, …like arsenic, zinc, nickel, cadmium …the list goes on and on. No one seemed to care much, or if they did, their complaints fell on deaf ears. Doe Run is just ‘too big’. I suppose that is what the people in that small town in Peru are still facing everyday with that smelter being in their community.
Even when the EPA and other government agencies got involved, they were less than helpful. It seemed to me that they were defending Doe Run, not sticking up for the community of people whom were being contaminated. They seemed to parrot the same message over and over, that , ‘only children six years of age and younger were at risk of harmful effects of lead’. I raised my hand at one of the meetings and asked, “Have you ever seen lead contamination this bad anywhere else, at any other time?” The answer to that question was, ‘No.’ I then added, “So what medical precident has been set for an official position stating that no one else is at risk?”
I had a grandfather who died of uremic kidney poisoning after working in the lead mines in San Francios County his whole life. That county neighbors Jefferson County where Doe Run is located and has been a major source of lead for them over the years. I don’t buy the theory that ONLY kids six and under suffer. It is very simple for my mind to process the facts that if heavy metals go in, it is difficult to get them out of the body. The kidneys are the main filter for contamination in the body. I think more study should be done on this.
Out of frustration, the Herculaneum community formed the CAG group, (Community Action Group), to make their voices heard. Then the CAG pushed for all the children to be tested for lead poisoning. The results were staggering. Children in the mile radius of the smelter were heavily contaminted with lead. All of this is going on AFTER the new and improved smoke stack has been in operation.
I would like to see some medical studies done on the population of people that lived and worked in the community before the new smoke stack went into operation when the contamination was at it’s worst.
The community is not just dealing with lead. There are many different contaminants coming out of that smoke stack. Lead gets the spotlight, but there are other serious environmental impacting contaminants that seem to have gone unnoticed.
The issue is so big that we tend to focus only on the impact to people of the community. The Mississippi River is being contaminated, the wildlife and vegetation around the smelter is being effected, the trains and trucks leaving the facility also contaminate everywhere they go by spillage and dust that falls from them. The air, the soil, and the water are all affected.
This is not old news, the contamination still exists, and I am still concerned. I really hope that more stories are done about this factory both here in Herculaneum, Missouri and in the small town of La Oroya, Peru. Our hearts are with them.
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