Brazilian court blocks millions from mining companies over environmental disaster

A Brazilian court ordered Monday that 500 million reais, or 127 million U.S. dollars, should be frozen from the bank accounts of mining company Samarco and its two parent companies, Vale and BHP Billiton.

This order aims to ensure that there is enough money available to pay for the recovery of the neighborhoods damaged by the collapse of the Samarco dams in southeast Brazil last November.

The collapse caused a slide of mud and iron ore mining waste, which completely destroyed an entire residential neighborhood in the city of Mariana, Minas Gerais state.

The mud also damaged other neighborhoods there before reaching the most important river in the region, the Doce River, destroying the surrounding fauna and causing more damages to the ecosystem after it flowed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Three months after the disaster, a gigantic mud stain is still present off the coast of Espirito Santo state.

The court ordered that the three mining companies must present an urban infrastructure recovery program and a project to prevent future mudslides along the damaged rivers within 30 days. Furthermore, the companies have 10 days to present a contingency plan for similar events in the future.

To date, the recovery work hasn't started, causing an uproar, especially when a TV ad aired last week presented Samarco as an example of social responsibility. Netizens have argued that if Samarco can pay a fortune for a prime-time ad, the company can afford to provide assistance to those affected by the environmental damages it has caused. Endi