The La Oroya Catastrophe

Built in 1922, the massive Doe Run smelting plant became the main employer in La Oroya, Peru. From 1974 to 1997, Doe Run was owed by the government of Peru through the state-owned entity Centromin. When Doe Run acquired the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex in 1997, the company agreed to modernize the plant and bring emissions down to acceptable levels by 2006. While Doe Run took some steps to reduce some pollutants, it never built the promised sulfuric acid plant which would significantly reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. In fact, Doe Run requested and received numerous extensions from the Peruvian government to meet the deadlines contained in the original environmental remediation and management agreement.

In 2006, La Oroya was named one of the 10 most polluted areas in the world by the Blacksmith Institute, an environmental organization in New York. According to an article in the St. Louis Dispatch, the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex generated annual discharges of roughly 32 tons of lead, 36 tons of poisonous arsenic and 69,000 tons of the toxic metal cadmium into the nearby Mantaro River. Between 2002 and 2004, lead emissions through the main smokestack at La Oroya increased by 33 percent.

Alarmingly high concentrations of lead have been detected in the blood of La Oroya residents and many have bronchial troubles. A 1999 study showed high levels of air pollution, with 85 times more arsenic, 41 times more cadmium, and 13 times more lead than amounts generally considered safe. Even though national courts, international authorities, and countless organizations and institutions have called for action in La Oroya, the Peruvian government, Doe Run, Doe Run Peru, and the Renco Group have been slow to respond to the environmental catastrophe that has occurred in La Oroya.

Despite the pollution, many citizens of La Oroya whose economic lives depended on the La Oroya Metallurgical Complex have supported Doe Run even when the Peru government pressured the company to further reduce emissions. Unfortunately, those supporters have also been betrayed by Doe Run, which closed the facility in 2009 because of financial concerns. It is unclear when or if the plant will reopen.