Colombia stands up to Big Coal

Colombia’s government is making a big show of prosecuting US coal producer Drummond for a series of environmental blunders. Why?

|
Juliana Alvarez/Reuters
Environment Minister Luz Helena Sarmiento (c.) speaks during a news conference in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta, on January 8. Colombia's government said on Wednesday it suspended loading of coal by its second-biggest coal miner, US-based Drummond, until it complies with new regulations governing movement of coal at the ports.

Colombia’s government is making a big show of prosecuting US coal producer Drummond for a series of environmental blunders, says our correspondent in Medellín. The case is reverberating all the way to Europe, where coal prices spiked on Jan. 9 when the government suspended Drummond’s shipping activities.

Some see the developments as a sign the government is taking a tougher environmental stance with dirty coal. Last month the environment minister also promised to bring forward legislation requiring environmental permits for mining exploration.

“This is one of the few times the Colombian government has put its foot down,” says our correspondent. “It’s a very significant.”

But the case is unlikely to presage any significant legal or environmental troubles ahead for Big Coal in the South American country, which is eager for the industry’s foreign direct investment, our correspondent adds. The spotlight may have more to do with Drummond’s shady history and President Juan Manuel Santos’s plans to stand for reelection in the May election.

“I’m skeptical if this represents real change,” says our correspondent. “Given the Colombian government’s relationship to the sector, I would be surprised if it continued to take a hard line.”

The government’s chief prosecutor announced last week that six Drummond employees will be charged with environmental damages for spilling some 200 metric tons of coal into the bay of Santa Marta in January 2013, for which the company was already fined $3.6 million. The incident was exposed by a Colombian photojournalist, which only increased the story’s media appeal.

On top of that, last month the government hit Drummond with $100 million in allegedly unpaid back taxes and also ordered the Alabama-based company to suspend all coal-loading operations until it upgraded its facilities to meet new environmental standards that kicked in Jan. 1....For the rest of the story, continue reading at our new business publication Monitor Frontier Markets.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Colombia stands up to Big Coal
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2014/0209/Colombia-stands-up-to-Big-Coal
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe