Lead Refining Pollution from Missouri to Peru

-La Oroya, Peru Playing Children, Doe Run smelter in background

-Herculaneum, Missouri Doe Run smelter

What do the towns of Herculaneum, Missouri and La Oroya, Peru have in common? Serious lead pollution!

The Doe Run Mining Company produces lots of lead from smelters in these two towns seriously damaging the environment with toxic lead and many other chemicals that stunt development in children and create many health problems for all things that live nearby.

La Oroya located high in the Andes mountains of Peru is also where my religious community has been serving for quite a few years. Lately there have been many conflicts between the workers trying to make a living and the mining company that is trying to get out of paying workers their wages and avoiding environmental fines owed to the Peruvian government. Even though the company has been finding ways to export its major income from Peru to the parent Doe Run St. Louis it is still trying to leave the most suffering people in La Oroya with the deepest problems.

I find this an incredibly sick problem. So many hard working, poor, and generally hopeful people suffer because of the greed of large corporations on which they depend to make a living. Yet people suffer and die, animals and plants suffer and die because of the irresponsible actions and often veiled collusion of government agencies that are supposed to regulate environmental standards (regulate not really enforce).

I'm not sure living an energy and device intensive lifestyle with so many luxuries is really worth such suffering on the part of the poorest and least powerful! In fact I know it's not worth it. But how am I to live differently?

Check out the links below for more to learn about these communities.

-Herculaneum, MO Lead Warning Sign

An American in Lima's blog post gives a clear overview of the health and environmental problems people suffer in La Oroya.
http://americaninlima.com/2008/12/10/toxic-la-oroya-mine-profiled-dec-11-on-cnns-planet-in-peril/

Paging Dr Gupta's blog on CNN Planet in Peril outlines some of the issues between health and livelihood:
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/category/planet-in-peril/

Mother Jones ran a very clear and detailed article connecting Herculaneum and La Oroya:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2006/10/lead-astray

Brief history on Herculaneum, Missouri; hosted by Saint Louis Community College:
http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/herculaneum/herc.html

Video on La Oroya's problems with health and environment and the Doe Run Smelter shared by EarthJustice.org:
http://www.youtube.com/v/gY6WXa9aKrM

A post from EarthJustice.org on La Oroya:
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2008/doe-run-smelter-in-peru-loses-enviornmental-certification.html