A Vara única da Comarca do município de Serra do Navio deferiu o pedido do Ministério Público do Amapá (MP-AP) e decretou a indisponibilidade de todos os bens móveis e imóveis da Zamin Amapá Mineração S/A, oficiando-se à Junta Comercial do Amapá (Jucap), Detran, Cartório de Registro de Imóveis, Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral (DNPM) e Incra e o bloqueio de valores, até o montante de R$ 50.000.000,00, (Cinquenta milhões de reais) , nas contas bancárias da empresa.
A Promotoria de Justiça daquele município ingressou com ação cautelar incidental contra Zamin e Pramod Agarwal, seu principal acionista, argumentando que a ação principal consiste em Ação Civil Pública, ajuizada contra a empresa Zamin, em razão de suposta poluição causada a diversos igarapés dos municípios de Serra do Navio e Pedra Branca do Amapari.
“Após o acidente no porto, a empresa anunciou que daria férias coletivas aos trabalhadores por 90 dias e negociaria com seus empreiteiros um confortável adimplemento do passivo. Também jurou colaborar com as autoridades locais para amenizar os impactos econômicos e sociais na região. Nada disto aconteceu”, informou o promotor de Justiça Jander Vilhena Nascimento.
O MP-AP alegou que existem laudos periciais nos autos do processo principal atestando a existência de danos ambientais na área e atribuindo 60% da responsabilidade desses danos à mineradora Zamin.
“Desde 2013, a Zamin paralisou suas atividades, após acidente no Porto de Santana, onde seus minérios eram embarcados. A empresa anunciou, após o referido acidente, férias coletivas aos seus empregados, por 90 dias, que negociaria com seus credores o adimplemento de seu passivo e que colaboraria com as autoridades para amenizar os impactos econômicos e sociais na região. Entretanto, nada disso teria ocorrido”, disse o promotor de Justiça Wueber Duarte Penafort, que subscreve a ação.
A COURT case that could choke the growth of mining in Australia has been launched against the largest coal mine in Queensland.
Mackay Conservation Group is taking on Indian mining giant Adani, arguing that the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the Great Barrier Reef was not adequately taken into account when its $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine was approved.
If successful it could have far reaching consequences for mining projects and how they are assessed, and could potentially require climate change impacts to be included in future assessments.
A study of twins conducted by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators shows that our environment, more than our heredity, plays the starring role in determining the state of our immune system, the body's primary defense against disease.
Pour la première fois, le sud de l’Algérie apparaît sous son vrai jour, loin de l’image purement industrielle ou touristique, il offre au pays sa diversité ethnique et culturelle colorée dans un paysage de citoyenneté dynamique, mobilisée, fusionnée et qui regarde dans la même direction. Le gouvernement est sommé de répondre sous huitaine, le mouvement menace de se radicaliser dans les jours qui viennent. D’ailleurs, les manifestants ont d’ores et déjà annoncé de nouvelles manifestations, jeudi prochain.
Choukran abtal In Salah
Que ce soit à In Salah, berceau de la contestation écologique citoyenne, à Tamanrasset, son chef-lieu de wilaya qui a pris à bras le corps le combat de la périphérie de l’Ahaggar mais aussi à Ouargla, la capitale de la fronde des chômeurs ou Aoulef, Brezina, Djanet, les citoyens ont été encore plus nombreux, plus déterminés, plus expressifs, dépassant les espérances les plus folles des organisateurs. Plus de 15 000 à In Salah, 4 000 à Tamanrasset, 5000 à Ouargla et autant ou un peu moins ailleurs, mais on compte des dizaines voire des centaines de personnes qui se sont donné le mot, le slogan, la cause. Ilamen à Tamanrasset, Tin Khatma à Djanet, à Aoulef, ont un message unique « les habitants sont contre l’extraction de gaz de schiste au Sahara, un débat national s’impose ». Les estimations sont positives, la présence sur le terrain permet aujourd’hui de confirmer, sans risque de se tromper, que le sursaut citoyen est là, réel et définitif et que la cause écologique a uni le sud sur une position commune, celle du refus de l’exploitation du gaz du schiste. « Merci aux héros d’In Salah » un slogan qui est revenu dans toutes les manifestations ou l’opposition au gaz de schiste a fédéré les collectifs et a donné un nom et un statut à la préoccupation première des wilayas sahariennes, un avenir différent, plus équitable, plus humain
Uruguayan environmentalists are upset because a report by the Industries, Energy and Mining Ministry classified as "confidential" issues that, they say, are important to assess the environmental impact of the Aratiri mining project.
The Uruguay Free of Megamining group has been waging a campaign for years against the Aratiri open pit iron mine projected to sprawl over 6,210 hectares (15,345 acres) in the central region of the country.
The Uruguayan subsidiary of Anglo-Swiss firm Zamin Ferrous plans to invest more than $1 billion in the project, including building a 212-kilometer (132-mile) underground pipeline to send a mix of water and iron ore to a new deepwater port on the Atlantic.
Both the government and Zamin Ferrous say the project will generate big benefits and many jobs in an area traditionally dedicated to cattle ranching, and it could lead to the growth of industries.
"The classification of confidentiality hides issues that are important to assess the impact of this mining project on rocks, water and the treatment of waste," Ana Filippini, one of the coordinators of the environmental group, told Efe.
Iron ore prices dipped below $70 Tuesday for the first time since 2009 as the world’s top producers continue to boost supply and Chinese demand weakens.
Ore futures for China, the world’s largest consumer, dropped over 3% a record low, while the steel-making ingredient with content rate of 62% delivered to the port of Qingdao dropped 1.2% to $69.58 a dry metric ton today, the lowest so far since June 2009, data from Metal Bulletin (subs. required) shows. This is almost two-thirds below a peak of $191.90 reached in February 2011, which was when huge new mines were being approved.
Prices are heading for a 13% loss this month, the most since May. The commodity has lost 48% of its value this year.
According to Bloomberg, prices are heading for a 13% loss this month, the most since May. The commodity has lost 48% of its value this year.
Analysts predict that the situation won’t improve much next year. Some global miners such as Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) have said they will ramp up supply by roughly 10%, mostly in the first half of next year, based on Citigroup estimates. This, more than worries about demand, has the futures market predicting that iron ore will be down another 5%, CME Group data shows.
Over the next five years Australia’s iron ore exports are projected to increase at an average annual rate of 5% and total 900 million tonnes in 2019.
VIDEO. Les pétroliers continuent-ils à s’intéresser au potentiel du Bassin parisien malgré la loi ? "L’Obs" a tenté de le vérifier, en Seine et Marne, deuxième gisement estimé de gaz de schiste en France.
Cette nouvelle investigation interroge le dogme de la croissance illimitée et présente des alternatives au modèle de la croissance dans le domaine de la production alimentaire (agriculture urbaine) de l’argent et de la richesse (monnaies sociales et nouveaux indicateurs de richesse) et de l’énergie (villes en transition).
“It should send a signal to industry that if the people in Texas – where fracking was invented – can’t live with it, nobody can,” said Sharon Wilson, the Texas organiser for EarthWorks, who lives in Denton.
Mapping popular alternative proposals of envisioning infrastructure
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PLEBISCITE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM BY «URUGUAY FREE FROM MINING»
Several projects of open pit mining in Uruguay have advanced significantly in recent years. These projects could have very negative impact on water and ecosystems. To protect key resources as water, the «Uruguay Free from Mining» movement proposes a plebiscite for a constitutional reform.
After staging a comeback of sorts following a drop to a more than 5-year low of $77.50 a tonne at the end of September, the iron ore price is again under pressure.
Northern China 62% Fe imports tracked by The SteelIndex exchanged hands for $78.80 a tonne on Tuesday, down 1% on the day.
After an uneventful second half of 2013 when the price was stuck between $130 and $140 a tonne for 148 days straight, the industry was jolted on March 10, when iron ore suffered the worst one-day decline since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, cratering 8.3% in a single session.
The recovery from there was swift, but by mid-June ore was sliding again and quickly became a one way bet as the market fretted about a flood of new supply just as demand in top consumer China slowed.
Platts spoke to a source at a Chinese state-owned trading house, who summed up the lacklustre trading conditions in the steelmaking raw material this way:
"I personally think it's hard for the market to lift. We have to look at the fact that there isn't much upside by way of steel performance or the Chinese economy to support a boost in ore prices. There's only news of tight credit for mills and also an oversupply in iron ore, so how does the ore market truly recover? There's also no actual news of economic stimuli that will extend directly to the steel and iron ore markets."
The price is also being influenced negatively by short term factors as Beijing gears up to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
The Chinese capital and environs are imposing the most stringent pollution controls since the 2008 Summer Olympics to curb smog during the meeting of Asian leaders.
Reuters quotes Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Lachlan Shaw as saying modest steel production cuts should be expected for 2-3 weeks which "should reduce iron ore demand in the immediate term and likely mute the expected seasonal restocking into China's winter."
The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides provides comprehensive, independent analysis to inform more rapid & improved decisions on the use of systemic pesticides & their impact on biodiversity & ecosystems. This video highlights the recent Worldwide Integrated Assessment report on the use of neonicotinoids and its effect on biodiversity and ecosystems.
China’s Hebei Province has some of the worst air pollution in the country and the area’s vast steel industry is a key focus of government efforts to improve air quality. Lu Guang’s stark images capture the industrial landscapes of some of Hebei’s most polluted cities
Germany’s Environment Ministry is hoping for a complete ban on green genetic engineering, but a Green party assessment warns that upcoming free trade agreements like TTIP and CETA could still bring genetically modified plants to the European market.
Le développement des mines d'or, parfois illégales, observé ces dernières années dans plusieurs régions d'Amérique du Sud accélère la déforestation, menaçant la biodiversité très riche de ces zones et contribuant aux émissions de gaz à effet de serre.
"Une ruée vers l'or mondiale a conduit à une augmentation significative de la déforestation des forêts tropicales en Amérique du Sud", écrivent les auteurs d'une étude publiée mercredi dans la revue Environnemental research letters.
Entre 2001 et 2013, environ 1.680 km2 de forêts tropicales ont été défrichés en Amérique du Sud pour permettre l'exploitation de mines d'or, ont-ils estimé.
Cela représente une part limitée de la déforestation totale, dont la surface est de plusieurs millions de km2 par an pour l'ensemble de la planète, mais la richesse biologique des zones visées par les chercheurs d'or est elle exceptionnelle.
"Bien que la perte de forêts due à l'exploitation des mines est moins importante que la déforestation en lien avec l'agriculture, elle intervient dans des régions tropicales qui ont la plus riche biodiversité", souligne Nora Alvarez-Berrios, l'un des auteurs de l'étude.
Dans la région de Madres de Dios au Pérou, par exemple, un hectare de forêt peut contenir jusqu'à 300 espèces d'arbres", explique la chercheuse de l'Université de Puerto Rico.
Fait aggravant, 90% des destructions recensées depuis 2001 ont eu lieu dans seulement quatre régions formant des écosystèmes, et très souvent à proximité de zones protégées.
Les régions les plus impactées sont: une partie du nord-ouest du continent à cheval sur plusieurs pays (Guyane, Venezuela, Surinam, Guyane française, Brésil, Colombie), le sud-ouest amazonien (Pérou, Bolivie, Brésil), la région Tapajos-Xingu (Brésil) et la région de la Vallée Magdalena-Uraba dans le nord de la Colombie.
Orosur Mining (LON:OMI) (TSE:OMI) has slipped into the red due to lower gold prices and higher costs as it delved deeper at its San Gregorio gold mine in Uruguay.
The primary waste product created by oil and gas drilling contains two types of potentially hazardous contaminants that have never before been associated with the industry, research published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology on Wednesday revealed.
Duke University geochemistry professor Avner Vengosh and his team of scientists found that wastewater produced by both conventional and unconventional oil drillers contains high volumes of ammonium andiodide — chemicals that, when dissolved in water or mixed with other pollutants, can encourage the formation of toxins like carcinogenic disinfection byproducts and have negative impacts on aquatic life.
That’s a problem, the study said, because oil and gas industry wastewater is often discharged or spilled into streams and rivers that eventually flow into drinking water systems.
“We were not aware that they existed in oil and gas waste products,” Vengosh told ThinkProgress on Wednesday. “Until now, no one was aware — no one was monitoring for those contaminants.”
Both conventional and unconventional oil and gas development produce wastewater, which contains pollutants that can harm human health. The unconventional process of hydraulic fracturing, however, produces much more wastewater than its conventional counterpart (the process involves injecting thousands of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals underground to crack shale rock). Nationwide, fracking produces an estimated 280 billion gallons of wastewater per year, according to an Environment America report.
How to dispose of that polluted water has been an issue. Some gets stored in artificial ponds, some is injected underground, and some is treated and put back into rivers. None are foolproof systems — untreated fracking wastewater has spilled into the environmentmultiple times from both injection wells and ponds, and treated wastewater has been found to be harmful for human consumption.
However it is disposed, Vengosh and his team said that their discovery of two new pollutants shows that the danger posed by fracking wastewater to human health and the environment is becoming more clear.
Evo Morales a été réélu président de Bolivie pour un troisième mandat. Depuis 2006, le dirigeant bolivien doit composer entre développement socio-économique et urgence écologique. Mais l’extractivisme s’accommode mal des cultures amérindiennes, attachées à la protection de la Terre-Mère.
La Paz, reportage
Un eldorado minier. Depuis l’arrivée des conquistadors espagnols au XVIesiècle, la Bolivie, anciennement le Haut-Pérou, vit au rythme de l’exploitation – ou du pillage – de ses ressources naturelles abondantes, et plus particulièrement de ses ressources minières.
Les mines de Potosi, exploitant l’un des plus importants gisements d’argent au monde, au cœur de la Cordillière des Andes, dans le Cerro Rico (la « montagne riche »), ont constitué, durant plus de trois siècles, un trésor inestimable pour la couronne espagnole (1).
Plus encore, selon l’historien Fernand Braudel, les flux d’argent entre ces mines et l’Europe ont contribué significativement à l’essor du capitalisme, au prix de la mort de huit millions d’Indiens et de deux millions d’esclaves africains...
Aujourd’hui encore, le modèle économique de la Bolivie – le pays le plus pauvre d’Amérique du Sud – est bâti sur l’exploitation intensive, voire agressive, de la richesse de son sous-sol. Avec l’argent et l’or, désormais l’étain, le zinc, le plomb, le cuivre, le fer, l’antimoine, l’arsenic, le cadmium, le tungstène, le manganèse, le bismuth, etc., sont extraits en quantités considérables – pour l’essentiel dans les régions occidentales de Potosi, Oruro et La Paz – et exportés, à l’état brut, vers les pays riches du Nord et les pays émergents (2).
L’exploitation minière, encore artisanale, est la seconde industrie extractive du pays, après les secteurs pétrolier et gazier. Elle pèse environ 14 % du PIBnational et représente bon an mal an, avec les hydrocarbures, 75 % des exportations.
- La "montagne riche", au-dessus de Potosi. -
L’air, l’eau et le sol sont contaminés
Or, la Bolivie paie toujours au prix fort l’exploitation – multiséculaire – de ses richesses minérales. « La pauvreté (3) et la forte dépendance économique à l’industrie extractive des matières premières conduisent trop souvent à en négliger les impacts écologiques et sanitaires », indique l’équipe de scientifiques (géochimistes, écologues, médecins épidémiologistes, géographes et sociologues) engagés, de 2007 à 2010, dans le programme de recherche Toxbol (4).
Coordonné par l’Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), ce dernier était destiné à étudier les origines, la propagation et les conséquences environnementales et sanitaires des pollutions polymétalliques générées par les activités minières et métallurgiques actuelles et passées.
Reprogrammer l'ADN des micro-organismes pour leur donner des fonctions nouvelles est à la portée des étudiants en biotechnologies du monde entier. Reportage à l'incroyable concours de "biologie synthétique", l'iGEM !
Rien de bien mystérieux au premier abord puisque voici les cours du Brent (le pétrole de la mer du Nord) et du WTI (le pétrole américain). Mais c’est leur effondrement depuis l’été dernier qui inquiète et intrigue les médias et les commentateurs.
L’avancée de Daech en Irak et en Syrie a encore plus fait vaciller une région qui se relève difficilement des conséquences de la guerre d’Irak, de la chute de la Kadhafi ou encore des printemps arabes. Et qui n’a toujours pas réglé la question de la Syrie et de l’opposition à Bachar el-Assad…Tous cherchent à expliquer pourquoi le baril de pétrole s’effondre alors que l’actualité géopolitique dans les principales régions productrices est pour le moins agitée.
Autre grand producteur : la Russie qui est elle plongée dans une tempête diplomatique et géopolitique avec l’Occident autour de la question de la Crimée et de l’est de l’Ukraine…
Et malgré tout, le pétrole continue de chuter, encore et encore.
J’étais revenue dans une précédente Quotidienne sur les raisons pouvant expliquer cette chute, en en identifiant 3 principales :
1. La stagnation de la demande mondiale, conséquence de la crise économique européenne mais aussi du ralentissement de la croissance chinoise et de la crise traversée par les principaux pays émergents. Celle-ci devrait atteindre les 91 millions de barils par jour en 2014.
2. L’augmentation de l’offre. Vous pourrez retrouver une explication plus détaillée de cette augmentation ici mais pour résumer, plusieurs pays producteurs ont vu leur production reprendre et augmenter (Libye, Iran, Irak…) ces derniers mois. Et puis il y a la "révolution du non-conventionnel" qui a vu les Etats-Unis faire un retour fracassant parmi les principaux producteurs de pétrole et de gaz de la planète. Conclusion, la production devrait atteindre les 92 millions de barils par jour cette année.
3. La décision de l’Arabie saoudite de casser les prix du pétrole qu’elle exporte.
Les fanatiques des hydrocarbures de schiste interprètent cette baisse comme la démonstration de l’autonomie énergétique retrouvée des Etats-Unis.3 facteurs d’explication et, selon l’analyste ou le média, une prédilection portée à l’un ou l’autre. Les déclinistes insisteront sur la baisse de la demande y lisant un prochain grand effondrement mondial ou un krach boursier imminent.
Les complotistes ou les amateurs d’ententes parmi les puissants privilégieront la troisième hypothèse.
- See more at: http://quotidienne-agora.fr/2014/11/14/petrole-russie-arabie-saoudite-2/#sthash.dNopKpoA.dpuf
Sheared off mountain tops, towering piles of rubble and deep pits make it hard to ignore Montana's recent history of gold mining.
Dominant on the landscape, industrial-scale gold mines provided jobs and tax revenues for parts of three decades in small communities that came to depend on the economic support. But big open-pit gold mines had such an impact on the environment that Montana effectively banned new ones 16 years ago.
Now, as a Canadian corporation looks to develop an industrial-scale gold mine in South Carolina ,Montana is struggling with the mess these massive operations left behind. Bankruptcies, sloppy mining practices and sometimes lax oversight created expensive and dangerous problems that other states could learn from as a new wave of gold exploration extends to the Southeast, Montana regulators say.
"We have had long and painful lessons," said Warren McCullough , a bureau chief with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality . "I would hope other states would look at that and keep that in mind."
State and federal taxpayers have spent at least $40 million in Montana to clean up environmental problems caused by four gold strip mines that shut down in the 1990s, according to the Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Forest Service .
Die Bürger in Uruguay gehen zu Tausenden gegen die Ausbeutung ihres Landes auf die Straße. Bereits zum siebten Mal hat die Bürgerbewegung Uruguay Libre einenProtestmarsch gegen das geplante Mega-Projekt Aratirí des Londoner Minen-Konzerns Zamin Ferrous organisiert. Kritiker befürchten, das drei Milliarden-Dollar-Projekt an der Atlantik-Küste könnte die Seen in der Region vergiften und die Wasserversorgung gefährden.
Humanity is an irrational lot, prone to denial and short-termism. If rational arguments were primary catalysts for social change, perhaps a steady state economy would already be a reality. Research in behavioural economics and cognitive psychology is beginning to help us understand why human beings don’t always make decisions that are in their best interests. Can we overcome our irrational, maladapted mental hard-wiring to thrive in a post-growth future?
Trailblazing behavioural economists like Daniel Kahneman have discovered that human beings are highly irrational creatures prone to delusion, cynicism, and short-termism. In ecological economics, Bill Rees has argued that our mental genetic presets have hard-wired us for overconsumption and ecological doom. And now, according to a new theory by Ajit Varki and Danny Brower, perhaps it all stems from an overarching psychological predisposition to denial.
In ecological terms, denial might be characterized as the failure to accept the deleterious consequences of economic growth in favour of accepting comfortable fictions that reinforce the status quo. Head-scratching environmentalists often use the word “denial” to reference the irrational “climate change deniers,” who accept the science of familiar things like internal combustion engines, modern appliances, or GDP growth, yet are dismissive of climate science and planetary boundaries. Why are human beings so good at denial?
Ecological economist Bill Rees argues that our ancient “triune” brain is hard-wired for short-term rewards, and those rewards have been amplified by the abundance of our fossil fuel driven economy. Our brain, which runs on an outdated OS, has leveraged its propensity for denial to construct a myth of perpetual growth wherein we can grow the economy and achieve short-term rewards forever.
Ecological economist Bill Rees argues that our ancient “triune” brain is hard-wired for short-term rewards, and those rewards have been amplified by the abundance of our fossil fuel driven economy. Our brain, which runs on an outdated OS, has leveraged its propensity for denial to construct a myth of perpetual growth wherein we can grow the economy and achieve short-term rewards forever.
Left wing governments across the Americas are faced with a dilemma, writes Daniel Macmillen - high social spending programs financed by income from destructive mining and hydrocarbon extraction - or a slower but sustainable development path that puts ecology, equity and justice first. Their answer - a constant pushing back of the resource frontier.
The global ecological crisis furnishes Latin American governments with a real opportunity to brandish their progressive credentials, to forge a unique, relevant model that enhances social justice.
What governments must do, now more than ever, is decisively leave resources in the ground, reject mining projects, resist the short-termist temptation of a fossil fuel fix.
Over the past 16 years, Latin America has undergone what has been termed a 'pink tide'. Since 1998, a wave of electoral victories has swept an unprecedented number of leftist governments to power across the region, from Sánchez Cerén in El Salvador to Bachelet in Chile.
For many, this shift has signalled an unravelling of neoliberal hegemony, and its replacement by emboldened new models of development, characterised by redistributive, progressive, anti-imperialist, and environmentalist politics.
Some of these perceptions are broadly accurate, but there has certainly been a gulf between the rhetoric of Latin American governments and their practical record.
Nowhere is this deficiency more blatant than in the environmental sphere. Latin American states, despite leading the charge at international climate summits, have rather different credentials at home.
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