Roundup: After dam disaster, Brazilian court orders polluter to clean up or pay up

A Brazilian court Thursday gave the mining company behind one of the nation's worst environmental disasters an ultimatum: clean up or pay up.

Iron ore mining company Samarco has to prevent a toxic mudslide from reaching the ocean or pay a fine of 10 million reais (2.68 million U.S. dollars) each day if it fails to do so.

On Nov. 5, two iron ore tailings dams belonging to the company ruptured, unleashing a torrent of mining waste that destroyed an entire neighborhood in the town of Mariana in the southeastern Minas Gerais state.

So far, 12 bodies have been found and 11 local residents are still missing. The hope of finding them alive dwindles as time passes.

The sludge has reached the Doce River, which flows through the neighboring Espirito Santo state toward the Atlantic. Close to the mouth of the river are breeding grounds for marine species in addition to a coral reef.

The mudslide, which has been shown to contain heavy metals despite Samarco's claim to the contrary, has already reached Espirito Santo and is expected to reach the ocean by Friday, prompting the court to demand the company take emergency action.

The company is using long floating booms, similar to those used to clean up oil spills, to keep the mud from seeping into sensitive mangrove areas and sea turtle nesting sites.

According to Samarco spokesman Alexandre Souto, the technique may not prevent all of the mudslide from getting to sensitive areas, but will minimize the damage.

In addition to the punitive measures decided by the court on Thursday, Samarco also faces other punishment for the incident: it has to pay 250 million reais (67 million dollars) in federal fines and 112 million reais (30 million dollars) in fines to Minas Gerais state.

But the fines slapped on Samarco so far are considered too low, given the scale of the disaster and the company's size. Samarco posted net profits of 2.8 billion reais (740 million dollars) last year, and its parent companies, Vale and BHP Billiton, are worth much more.

To mitigate the consequences of the dam burst could be a very long process, Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said.

Reconstruction of the worst-affected areas would take at least 10 years and the recovery of the eco-system in the Doce River may take even longer as poisonous sludge could wipe out the entire species there, he said, adding that the construction of an alternative water distribution system is no easy task either. Endi