A civil trial began October 21 to determine whether several mining companies are liable for the collapse of a dam that released toxic sludge into communities in rural Brazil, resulting in one of the worst environmental disasters in the country’s history. The class action lawsuit, filed in the U.K., will decide whether the Fundão tailings dam collapse was the fault of mining companies Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP) and Miners Vale, which may have to pay billions of dollars in compensation to affected individuals. “Our legal case will publicly hold BHP to account and set a precedent; making it more difficult for multinational corporations more broadly to neglect their responsibility to the communities in which they operate,” said Tom Goodhead, CEO of Pogust Goodhead, the firm that filed the lawsuit. The Fundão tailings dam stored the toxic byproduct from iron ore drilling in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. When the dam broke on November 5, 2015, it released approximately 50 million cubic meters (1.7 billion cubic feet) of arsenic-laced mud down the Doce river, killing 19 people and destroying the towns of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo. The accident created an economic and public health crisis for millions of people, whose crops and drinking water were poisoned, according to the lawsuit. Many businesses were forced to close. Around 620,000 claimants in the lawsuit could receive around $46 billion in compensation if the court rules in their favor, according to Pogust Goodhead. A recent study found that 15 metals, including iron, nickel,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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