Most rivers in El Salvador are contaminated — mining is likely to deplete the remaining water
El Salvador is being sued by Oceana Gold for not granting it a mining license that would threaten the primary source of drinkable water for the whole country.
In a bold and unprecedented move, El Salvador stood up to the mining giant to protect its natural resources from the whims of corporate power.
In 2009, the Salvadoran authorities decided not to grant any mining licenses and now civil society groups are looking to pass a law that would definitely ban toxic metal mining in their territory. If El Salvador passes this law, we could encourage other countries to follow and protect our future instead of corporate profits.
The hearing for this case will be held in less than a month in Washington DC so, we only have a few weeks to show support for El Salvador.
Can you sign the petition asking Oceana Gold to drop the lawsuit and respect El Salvador’s decision?
The government of El Salvador did not grant a mining license for the El Dorado mine because OceanaGold failed to comply with national regulations that committed the company to respect the human rights and the environment.
Mining has had a terrible effect in El Salvador. San Sebastian, a poor community in the north of the country, is being forced to buy bottled water after its local supply was contaminated by one of the mines. On top of that, several anti-mining activists have been killed, including Dora Alicia Recinos Soto, a prominent anti-mining activist, shot in front of her house while 8 months pregnant while carrying her 2-year-old baby.
El Salvador is not the only country standing up to mining companies, Costa Rica also banned Infinito Gold from opening an open-pit mine in its pristine rainforests, and thousands of SumOfUs members signed the petition demanding it drop the lawsuit.
One by one, countries are deciding mining isn’t the answer for a sustainable futureand that should be respected. The hearing is on September 15th, so we have just about enough time to get OceanaGold to back off El Salvador.
