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The class action lawsuit at the High Court in London seeks an
estimated 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in damages from the
global mining giant BHP. That would make it the largest
environmental payout ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law
firm representing the plaintiffs.
BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the
iron ore mine where a tailings dam ruptured on Nov. 5, 2015,
releasing enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming
pools into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The case was
filed in Britain because one of BHP’s two main legal entities
was based in London at the time.
The trial comes days after BHP announced that the company and
its partner in Samarco, Vale SA, were negotiating a settlement
with public authorities in Brazil that could provide $31.7
billion for people, communities and the environment damaged.
The potential settlement won’t have any impact on the London
case, Pogust Goodhead said in a statement.
“Such timing only proves that the companies responsible for
Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster are determined to do
everything they can to prevent the victims from seeking justice,
and are willing to perpetuate the shameful behavior they have
demonstrated over the last nine years,” the firm said.
Melbourne, Australia-based BHP said the possible settlement
would resolve a claim filed by Brazil’s Federal Public
Prosecution Office and other claims by Brazilian public
authorities.
“BHP will continue to defend the (UK) action, which it believes
is unnecessary because it duplicates matters already covered by
the ongoing reparation work and legal proceedings in Brazil,”
BHP said Saturday.
The disaster destroyed two villages, killed 14 tons of
freshwater fish and damaged 660 kilometers (410 miles) of the
Doce River, according to a study by the University of Ulster.
The river, which the Krenak Indigenous people revere as a deity,
was polluted so badly that it has yet to recover.
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