Stephen P. Broker
The third New York Times article, published in the Monday, May 24, 1999 issue, is entitled Aznalcazar journal: year-old spill poisons farms and wild food chain." Written by Marlise Simons, writer of the 1998 New York Times article announcing the spill, it presents an assessment of the Los Frailes zinc mine disaster thirteen months after the spill occurred, and after the first studies of short-term impacts of the spill had been published. Students read this article aloud in class, and they discuss the content of the article.
Summary of the article.
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1. The fruit and vegetable farmer Jose Antonio Alvarez is interviewed about the impact of the zinc mine waste reservoir spill on his livelihood. He was previously interviewed by Ms. Simons for the 1998 NYT article. He surveys his barren farmland and states, "we're forbidden to grow anything." He refers to his land and the land of hundreds of other farmers in the Aznalcazar area. He also fears that he and the other farmers will lose possession of their land as a result of the spill.
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2. The flow of acid sludge and heavy metal compounds was diverted from Donana National Park by the fast construction of dikes, but it poisoned the waters of the Guadiamar River, the Natural Park which serves as a buffer zone to the National Park, and the Guadalquivir River
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3. Spain's environmental conscience is called into question, with the writer's tempering words that this was nonetheless considered a major environmental disaster.
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4. Boliden Ltd of Canada has made available an abandoned open pit mine on the Los Frailes property for receiving 12 million tons of acidic, contaminated mud from the spill. The US$52 million they have spent thus far has gone toward cleanup of the spill, repair of damaged landscapes, and compensation to farmers for crops and income lost.
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5. Superficially, the area looks fairly clean. But, acidic materials and heavy metals have contaminated the agricultural fields and marshlands (mistakenly called swamps by Ms. Simons) and entered the food chain, beginning with aquatic plants, continuing through fishes, amphibians, and birds. In a study conducted by the Council for Scientific Investigations, forty four per cent of Greylag Geese sampled had high levels of cadmium and lead in their body tissues, and 22% of the contaminated birds were severely affected. Cesar Nombela is director of the Council.
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6. Donana biologist Miguel Ferrer cautions that geese are a main food source for the endangered Spanish Imperial Eagle and the endangered Iberian lynx. These geese are hunted by peoples of Scandinavian countries following their northerly spring migrations, and by North African peoples following the fall migration south. The heavy metal poisoning thus spreads to other parts of Europe and to Africa.
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7. Local farmers and fishermen are concerned about their livelihoods, fearing arsenic poisoning the most.
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8. Chemical and biological treatments are being considered as ways to arrest the contamination.
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9. The Andalusian regional government states its intention to expropriate land from farmers (a list of affected farms has been published) and establish a green belt that is reforested along the 70 mile long spill site and dedicated to recreational use. US$160 million will be used for the land buyout, and the plan calls for a third of this sum to come from the European Union. Four hundred families will be affected.
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10. Some farmers say they will fight the regional government's green belt plan in court. Local farmer Carmen Moraira leads the protest, and she charges the regional government with hypocrisy. "Since when did they become environmental converts?," she questions.
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11. The Guadiamar River has long been the dumping ground of untreated sewage from surrounding towns. Nobody ever swims in this river.
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12. The Los Frailes zinc mine has just reopened. It provides 500 jobs for local villagers, and the reopening of the mine was supported by them. The Donana National Park board called for the permanent closure of the mine, however.
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13. This complex environmental and health issue is in the hands of a local judge, who tries to assign responsibility for the spill. Boliden Ltd, another company which previously owned the waste reservoir, the engineers who designed the reservoir, and the government inspectors who regularly found nothing wrong with it are among the suspects. The court lacks money for an in-depth investigation.
The following questions should guide class discussion: One year after the spill, what has happened to Donana National Park? What has happened to the Guadalquivir River Valley? What has been the impact on local villagers? What is the position of the villagers concerning the environment? What is their economic position? Which group is taking a strong stance for protection of the environment? Which group or groups take a strong stance in favor of economic issues? How can these positions be resolved to the satisfaction of those concerned?