Stateowned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, announced the closure of a smelter in “Chilean Chernobyl,” one of several contaminated areas in the country that President Gabriel Boric wanted “to be ashamed of.”
With the majority of its board, the company announced the decision on Friday (17th) after ordering the closure of the Ventanas foundry in the industrial zone of Quintero and Puchuncaví, 140 km west of Santiago.
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The decision comes after a new episode of contamination of the ar on June 9, which affected 115 people, most of them students, and forced the schools to close, as has been the case for decades because of the pollution of the place.
“We don’t want any more (environmental) victim areas. Today there are hundreds of thousands of people living in our country who are at risk of the severe environmental destruction that we have caused or that we have consented to and which, as a Chilean, shames me,” said the President.
Located on the country’s east coast, the “Chilean Chernobyl” has been the focus of public poisoning crises from air pollution from mining for decades.
Codelco’s decision “was taken in light of the recurring cases of poisoning that have occurred at the foundry plant,” Boric said.
2 of 2 workers take part in a demonstration after authorities declared an environmental emergency in the area, pointing to the refinery as a possible cause of the contamination along with other companies in the area — Photo: REUTERS
Workers take part in a demonstration after authorities declared an environmental emergency in the area, pointing to the refinery as a possible source of contamination along with other companies in the area — Photo: REUTERS
In a statement, Codelco explained that “the complex socioenvironmental situation of the PuchuncavíQuintero industrial center has been revealed in recent weeks following various episodes of poisoning”.
“This facility is located in an industrial, mining, energy and port complex whose environmental conditions have led to incidents affecting in particular boys and girls in schools and kindergartens, as well as older adults,” the stateowned company added in the statement.
After the decision was published Dozens of Fundição Ventanas workers took to the streets to protest and erected fire barricades against the measure.
“We are not responsible for the contamination of Quintero Puchuncaví. We need investment and we don’t agree with this decision, they have already closed the plant and that doesn’t change the contamination,” an angry worker at the protest told the press without identifying himself.
In the presidential palace of La Moneda in Santiago, Boric assured the 350 employees of the foundry that “no worker will remain in the company without a job”.
“Your jobs are secured in other areas of the company under the same conditions as at present without damage,” emphasized the President.
Quintero and Puchuncaví, two coastal towns of around 50,000 people, have been considered “environmental casualty zones” since the Chilean government decided in 1958 to oust artisanal fishing and agriculture in order to turn the area into an industrial hub, now home to four coalfired thermoelectric power plants Oil stand and copper refineries.