OK to import and dump toxic and hazardous wastes in the DR

[andrea9k]

japanese? chinese??

I thought the rock ash was going to be burnt on Cemex and Domicem plants... mexican and italian companies. BTW, I want to see it get reduced to 1% its volume...

About the material disposition, I think finally they made a good decision (should I say, finally they made A decision??). Concrete/blocks are some of the potential uses of this rock ash. As a local block manufacturer's joint research demonstrated, blocks made with coal fired power plants ashes as an additive turn into lighter, cheaper and stronger blocks (depending on ashes quality).

I agree with gardito. Proper handling and storage of the material was the major problem here, being visual impact the most dramatic. Ignorance did the rest.

About the deals, good/bad intentions, law suits, etc etc etc, that will be 10 more years of fruitless discussions and at the end nobody will go to jail. AES PR sold an undesired product (I prefer this word, waste is something useless) and won't take it back. The Dominican government have to make sure this doesn't happen again. How? By writing senseful and up to date regulations and developing psychorigid personnel to enforce them.

Jess

 

[Mirador]

I thought the rock ash was going to be burnt on Cemex and Domicem plants... mexican and italian companies. BTW, I want to see it get reduced to 1% its volume...

About the material disposition, I think finally they made a good decision (should I say, finally they made A decision??). Concrete/blocks are some of the potential uses of this rock ash. As a local block manufacturer's joint research demonstrated, blocks made with coal fired power plants ashes as an additive turn into lighter, cheaper and stronger blocks (depending on ashes quality).

I agree with gardito. Proper handling and storage of the material was the major problem here, being visual impact the most dramatic. Ignorance did the rest.

About the deals, good/bad intentions, law suits, etc etc etc, that will be 10 more years of fruitless discussions and at the end nobody will go to jail. AES PR sold an undesired product (I prefer this word, waste is something useless) and won't take it back. The Dominican government have to make sure this doesn't happen again. How? By writing senseful and up to date regulations and developing psychorigid personnel to enforce them.

Jess

Your discovery that adding coal ash to the brick making mix makes for a ?lighter, cheaper and stronger? brick, reminds me of that ancient Korean custom of throwing young live children into the molten metal mix as an ?additive? to harden the alloy and produce crispier sounding bells.

The DR doesn?t need ?up to date regulation? to protect itself from the importation of hazardous waste and materials. The regulations are there, in the books, both internationally and locally.

The laws were broken because of the corrupted government ?mafiocracy? that runs the country, helped of course by the lack of moral indignation from those who make excuses for these crimes?

-

 

[rym87]

To those who say that the rock ash isn't toxic:

I've seen pictures of land without the rock ash and with it, and there's a clear difference. Clearly, rock ash contains toxic materials that degrade the land. Here's one article:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/blairsvilledispatch/s_422419.html

The material is highly acidic (pH lower than 2.1) and consequently does not allow for life to thrive. The US Geological Service says that it is usually associated with lead, molybdenum, silver, copper, and antimony. It also contains sulfur compounds that are volatile (they can easily become gaseous) and may cause low-impact acid rain. In any case, I agree with what many say about the material being sent to a country that has nothing to do with who created the waste material. If people protested against this action, it would be reversed.

 

[aegap]

the latest, ...

AP) - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Judge allows suit against U.S.-based energy company

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) -- The government of the Dominican Republic can proceed with a lawsuit against Arlington, Virginia-based power company AES Corp. over the dumping of coal ash on Dominican beaches, a federal judge has ruled.
<SCRIPT src="/relevance/js.asp" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
AES had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on multiple grounds. But U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee denied the request in a ruling made public this week

...

The lawsuit seeks $US80 million (euro61 million) in damages; Lee said in his ruling that the case will be decided under standards set forth in Dominican law.

 

[Mirador]

... The lawsuit seeks $US80 million (euro61 million) in damages; Lee said in his ruling that the case will be decided under standards set forth in Dominican law.

Funny that you added this last phrase as a corollary, however, you forgot to reduce the font size to fine print. You must be aware that this case was already tried by Dominican law, and the Dominican court rulled for lack of evidence. Here is a situation not unlike our current energy crisis, people making money out of caos, and now in this case it is also US lawyers...

 

[Texas Bill]

Funny that you added this last phrase as a corollary, however, you forgot to reduce the font size to fine print. You must be aware that this case was already tried by Dominican law, and the Dominican court rulled for lack of evidence. Here is a situation not unlike our current energy crisis, people making money out of caos, and now in this case it is also US lawyers...

Mirador:

Would it not be germane to mention that the manner in which the Dominican abogados presented the case was not complete?
As I recall, they focused on thehealth issues instead of the violation of theenvironmental issues and the "illegal" transport and dumping that took place in violation of the appropriate Dominican laws.
If that was the case, then the Dominican Courts had no choice but to rule "insufficient evidence" since the waste that was dumped was not as toxic as represented by the objectors.
The many complaints of "Ill Health" that were assedged by the inhabitants of Manzanillo were fabricated and were caused by contaminated water being pumped into the local sisterns after months of the pipes being not used. The stagnant water therein was mixed with the "fresh" water, thereby contaminating it with all sorts of algae and bacteria/virus.

While I agree that there are many aspects of the original "trial sequence", the verdict did have a foundation in fact.

I'm not so sure that the US courts will view the evidence with the same "eyes" as did the Dominican courts. The fct that the waste originated within US territorial jurisdiction will have a huge bearing on theoutcome. There are laws in theUS that prohibit this sort of "transportational dumping" and I don't think AES will get off "Scott Free" by any means.

Let us hope for the best and that Justice is forthcoming.

I imagine that the findings will be somewhat short of what the Dominican Government is suing for, however.

Texas Bill

 

[aegap]

an update

AES ash case update
The Dominican government's case against the AES Corporation in a US court resumes this coming 16 February. In advance of the hearing, the law firm Burke Pyle LLC of Philadelphia and Washington, DC deposited a motion in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on 22 January 2007 for summary judgment against Florida businessman Roger Fina and AES on behalf of the Dominican Republic. The DR is asking for a compensation payment for the dumping of 80,000 tons of ash containing arsenic and other noxious substances from an AES power plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico that polluted the air, water and land near the northwestern town of Manzanillo and the northeastern province of Samana.
The case moved after the US Court ruled that the DR had grounds "for bringing nuisance, civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting claims for pollution damages in Manzanillo and Samana" and that such damage claims should be heard under Dominican Law 64-00, which the Court found allows the DR government itself to claim damages.
The lawyers have submitted proof that the ash was dumped in the DR despite the fact that AES was aware that the Ministry of Environment had not issued the necessary permit. A limited certificate was issued after the first shipload was dumped but it specified that the company had to take all measures needed to prevent harm to the environment, a condition they did not fulfill. The lawyers established that Fina, the contractor, continued to dump ash even after the permit had expired.
The legal documents deposited by the DR government lawyers seek to establish that AES clearly took part in, and was the financial beneficiary of the dumping, as it knowingly hired Fina, a businessman without any previous experience of disposing of (or using) the AES ash because Fina was substantially cheaper than retaining an experienced ash disposal contractor. The law firm has deposited in court documents that establish that AES executives Al Dyer and David Stone authorized Fina to take the ash to the DR and leave it in Manzanillo and Samana.
AES is the largest private power generator in the DR. It manages the EdeEste utility and operates the Andres natural gas plant and the Los Mina plants, for a total 987 MW generation capacity.
To read more on the case, see:
http://dr1.com/news/2007/020607_AESsuit.pdf
http://dr1.com/news/2006/032706_AESsuit.pdf

..how funny it would be if an American judge and jury turn out to be better intepretor of DR's own law.

 

[Texas Bill]

I applaud the decision by the US Courts in this case.

I'm not an attorney, nor learned in the law, but must go on "gut instinct" alone. That instinct, regardless of my previous comments above, still say that AES and the othere defendents were at fault orininally and should pay the price for trying to "Poor-Boy" a disposal problem.

It proves that the US system of "JUSTICE" is indeed blind and the the facts appropriate to the case at hand are the only consideration given in reaching a final verdict. Is it the same with the Dominican Courts?? I think not, as is evidenced by the previous decision by those same courts in the DR. There was too much consideration given to the Defending parties. The fact that the case was presented poorly and not enough consideration given to the ancilliary Environmental laws which were in place for protection of the environment. The judges seem to have ignored that situation entirely.
All in all, AES and associated defendents will eventually pay for the damage done by their violation of those laws, as they should and as theDominican Courts should have found in the first place.

There's more that meets the eye, but suffice to say, justice will eventually be served---Even in the DR.

I think that kudoos should go to the Prosecutors Office for their pursuit of a resolution to this case. Without their perserverance, it never would have progressed to the present point.

Aegap, Thanks for the "Update". It is very interesting reading and detailed.

Texas Bill

 

[Chip00]

Does anybody what the currrent status is of the dumpsite?

 

[Keith R]

sites, plural. There were ones in both Samana and Manzanillo.

 

[aegap]

some kind of settlement reached, ..

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - The Dominican Republic has settled a lawsuit against a U.S. energy firm that it accused of dumping industrial waste on its beaches, a lawyer for the country said Wednesday.

The settlement with Virginia-based AES Corp. was reached Tuesday, less than a week before the case was scheduled for trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, said attorney Susan Burke.

Terms of the settlement were not immediately disclosed. The Dominican had sought US$80 million (euro60.5 million) in damages from the power company.

...

 

[Texas Bill]

I would guess that they were willing to settle for somewhere between 30-50 million.
The DR is severly strapped for cash and it wasn't a certainty that they would win at the 80 million mark. Judges usually award much less that is asked for. In this case, the damages were minimal and the alluded to illnesses were NOT atributable to the "rock-ash".
This whole thing was blown all out of proportion from the begining by a greedy group in government.

Texas Bill

 

[aegap]

In this case, the damages were minimal and the alluded to illnesses were NOT atributable to the "rock-ash".
..

Texas Bill

..yes, but punitive damage awards given by American juries can be a bitch.

 

[aegap]

seems like AES wanted to save lawyering and PR capital, ..

AES and DR government settle
The Ministry of Environment has settled a suit with AES that was being heard in the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The DR government had accused the US company of dumping 80,000 tons of coal ash waste from an AES power plant in Puerto Rico in coastal areas in Montecristi and Samana provinces. The Ministry of Environment had indicated that it would settle for US$80 million in damages from the power company. The case would have gone to court on 5 March. US lawyer Susan Burke of Burke Pyle LLC says that the DR would release the terms of the settlement pursuant to the government-in-the-sunshine rules. Those rules were conceived and passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal in the mid 1970s, when US public mistrust of government was running very high.
For background on the case, see www.dr1.com/news/2007/020607_AESsuit.pdf and www.dr1.com/news/2006/032706_AESsuit.pdf


The Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. ? 1350, (ATS) is a federal law that states, in relevant part:



<DL><DD>"The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."</DD></DL>Recently, this statute has become significant as a means of allowing American government, military, and corporate leaders to be held responsible in a court of law for the human rights abuses committed as a result of their presence in a foreign country. This is regardless of whether the abuses were committed by someone within an American organization, or whether the abuses were committed by a local group empowered by the presence of the American organization.

 

[Lambada]

6 months sentence (probably suspended) & fine for Ren? Ledesma, ex-sub secretary of Environment for rockash case:
Condenan ex subsecretario Medio Ambiente gobierno HM por caso rockash

 

[Keith R]

Thanks for the update, Ginnie!

 

[mariaobetsanov]

This no surprice!

Here anything can be sold. Each political party is a branch of DR mafia I have not seen a clean air act . Every other person or businessmen- is emune from the law. Jaque de Norte is the best example of the ignorance that the Government oficials sell influence. My life is not what it was when arrived here. Santiago is the Love Canal of the Carribean.