Barrick in the Dominican Republic

By Staff, Protestbarrick. As the opening date approaches for the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo mine, controversy around this mega-mine has continued to grow. According to the president of Maimón’s municipal committee, the funds Barrick has transferred to the municipality are less than the costs of the damage it has caused. Community members complain that the workers in the mine are overwhelmingly foreigners. Recently Barrick was accused of blocking the performance of the protest song “De Pascua Lama” (video included) at a Dominican Festival.

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Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian and US corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. UPDATES: Attempts to issue mining permits to the US’ VCS Mining LLC and Canada’s SOMINE SA, without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) were thwarted by Haiti’s Senate in January 2013. Plans to dredge a deep-sea port in the pristine Bay of Fort Liberte were scrapped in April 2014.

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Chilean Farmers Fight Brazilian Billionaire’s Plans for Thermoelectric Plant In Area of Rich Marine Biodiversity

By Marianela Jarroud, IPS, Tierramerica | Haiti Chery. Plans to build the Castilla Thermoelectric Project, near an area of rich marine biodiversity has sparked fierce opposition from the Chilean farming town of Totoral, which has scored its first victory in court. Behind the Castilla project is the energy company MPX, a subsidiary of the EPX Group owned by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista.

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Amplified Acceleration of Ice Loss from Antarctica to the Sea

PRESS RELEASE, UT Austin Institute for Geophysics. A study of nearly 40 years of satellite imagery has revealed that the floating ice shelves of a critical portion of West Antarctica are steadily losing their grip on adjacent bay walls, amplifying an already accelerating loss of ice to the sea.

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Rapid Changes to Global Water Cycle Imply Severer Floods, Droughts, Famines

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. An article by Paul Durak and colleagues in the Journal Science represents yet more confirmation that the effects of global warming are stronger than anticipated from scientific models. An intensification of water evaporation and precipitation over the Earth implies severe consequences for living things, including famines, floods, droughts, and general climate instability.

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Piarroux: Haiti Epidemic Could Be Gone in Months, Vaccination Target St Marc Has No Cholera | Interview du Dr Renaud Piarroux sur le choléra d’Haiti avec Priorité Santé

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery (English) | Renaud Piarroux and Claire Hedon, Priorite Sante (French). Contrary to the daily predictions of mayhem from the mainstream press about Haiti’s cholera epidemic, Dr. Renaud Piarroux, who has access to up-to-date medical information and laboratory results about the epidemic, says that cholera could be completely eradicated from Haiti in a few months, but not by the oral vaccination campaign promoted by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population. (English | French)

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Industrial Fertilizer Responsible for Climate Changing Nitrous Oxide Levels

By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley Press Release | CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research | Haiti Chery. Scientists from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand have discovered that a steep rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) since the mid-1970’s is due to the increased use of industrial fertilizers. Nitrous oxide damages the UV-protective ozone layer in the stratosphere and contributes to climate change as a potent greenhouse gas that causes global warming.

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Fracking-Earthquake Link Known For Decade By Scientists, Military and Frackers

By Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee. Hydraulic fracturing was identified by the U.S. as an earthquake trigger as early as 1990, and scientists have long known that injection of fluid where the Earth’s crust lies closest to faults and fractures can cause earthquakes.

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Caracol Free-Trade Zone Jeopardizes Natural and Cultural Heritage | La zone franche de Caracol met en péril le patrimoine naturel et culturel du Nord-Est

By Rachelle Charlier Doucet, AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A massive industrial park is scheduled to open in the Caracol Bay area of Haiti, although no plan is in place to mitigate the park’s impact on a region that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site for its ecological, historical, and archaeological importance. (English | French)

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Privatization of Water: Benign as Lucifer

By Richard Raznikov, The Rag Blog | Democracy Center | Haiti Chery. About 20 years ago, it dawned on the bankers and some major corporations that if oil was a lucrative commodity, water would be even more so…. The trick was how to take it away from the people and sell it back to them.

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Recent Uranium Mining Ban from Grand Canyon Under Industry Attack

By Roger Clark, Arizona Republic. Environmentalists, Native Americans, and Arizonans welcomed a 20-year ban by the U.S. Interior Secretary on Jan 9th on new uranium claims on a million acres of public land around the Grand Canyon National Park because mining activities would have violated sacred sites, polluted the river and aquifer, created relatively few short-term jobs, and principally benefited foreign companies. The ban was challenged with a lawsuit on Monday Feb 27th by the National Mining Association.

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Western Biologists Study Tuna Collapse as Their Countries’ Fleets Pillage World Coasts | Pesca de atún requiere sacrificios a corto plazo

Julio Godoy, IPS, Tierramérica | Enrique Gili, IPS | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The world’s tuna populations, and particularly bluefin tuna, are being overfished to extinction. Despite numerous violations for overfishing, vessels fly flags of convenience, change their names, swap crews and continue to operate. (English | Spanish)

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How Somalia’s Fishermen Became ‘Pirates’

By Ishaan Tharoor, Time Magazine | Chebucto | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Since 1991, Somalia’s 2,000-mile coastline, the longest in continental Africa, has been pillaged by foreign vessels. An estimated $300 million of seafood is stolen from Somalia each year by countries that include France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Spain, and Taiwan.

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In Famatina, Water Is Worth Far More Than Gold | El agua vale más que el oro en Famatina | Famatina, onde a água vale mais do que o ouro

By Marcela Valente, IPS | Periodismo Humano | TN Argentina | You Tube. Thousands in the northwest Argentina province of La Rioja are mobilizing to stop an open-cast gold mining project in the Nevados de Famatina, a snowy peak that is the semi-arid area’s sole source of drinking water. “We take turns [blocking the road to the mountain], and we’re going to hold our ground until the government and the company drop this project,” – Carina Diaz Moreno, teacher from Famatima. (English | Spanish | Portuguese | Includes music video)

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