Victims of an environmental disaster in Brazil are suing mining giant BHP in a British court

LONDON– Victims of Brazil's worst environmental disaster filed a lawsuit seeking compensation in a British court on Monday, nearly nine years after tons of toxic mining waste spilled into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities.

The class action lawsuit in London's High Court is seeking an estimated 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in damages from global mining giant BHP. According to Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, this would be the largest environmental payout ever.

BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where a tailings dam burst on November 5, 2015, releasing enough tailings to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools in the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The case was filed in the UK because one of BHP's two main legal entities was based in London at the time.

“BHP is a polluter and therefore must pay,” lawyer Alain Choo Choy said in written statements.

BHP attorney Shaheed Fatima said in written statements that the claim had “no basis,” adding that BHP did not own or operate the dam and had “limited knowledge of the dam and no knowledge that its stability was at risk.” “.

The river, which the indigenous Krenak people worship as a deity, was so polluted that it has not yet recovered. According to a University of Ulster study, the disaster killed 14 tons of freshwater fish and damaged 660 kilometers (410 miles) of the Doce River.

When the dam, known as Fundao, burst, Bento Rodrigues, once a bustling village in Minas Gerais state, was inundated with mud. Now it resembles a ghost town.

A few white tiles are the only remains of the house where Mônica dos Santos, 39, lived with her parents near the Catholic church, which was also destroyed. She has become one of the main activists seeking full reparations.

“It’s not just the destruction of November 5th. The destruction since then is, as I often say, even worse,” she said. Some survivors turned to alcohol, others to drugs. Personal relationships were strained, sometimes to the point of breaking.

The trial comes days after BHP announced that the company and its Samarco partner, Vale SA, were negotiating a settlement with authorities in Brazil that would provide $31.7 billion for harmed people, communities and the environment could.

Vale said on Friday that the sum included $7.9 billion already paid, $18 billion to be paid in installments over 20 years to the Brazilian federal government, the states and municipalities of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, and $5 .8 billion in Samarco's “performance obligations,” including individual compensation.

Last month, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told Radio Vitoriosa, a local station in Minas Gerais, that his government intended to reach an agreement with the mining companies by the end of October. Brazilian federal prosecutors and authorities filed lawsuits.

Melbourne, Australia-based BHP said it believed the British action was unnecessary because the issues were covered by redress efforts and legal proceedings in Brazil, but said it would continue to advocate for it .

Pogust Goodhead said the potential settlement should have no impact on the case.

“This timing only proves that the companies responsible for Brazil's largest environmental disaster are determined to do everything they can to prevent victims from seeking justice,” the company said in a statement.

Survivors from Bento Rodrigues have moved to a new village with the same name, half an hour's drive away. Colorful, multi-story houses line freshly paved streets.

Priscila Monteiro, 36, moved in three months ago but said she doesn't feel at home.

“It feels like I'm just passing through and will be returning home at any moment,” she said.

Monteiro was pregnant when the dam burst on her birthday. She and her two-year-old child were pulled from the toxic slime and survived, but she miscarried. Her five-year-old niece Emanuelle died.

“For me, what was supposed to be a day of celebration has forever become a day of mourning,” she said, crying.

Monteiro hopes the trial in London will lead to an acknowledgment of the damage.

“God brought the people of London our way because there is no justice in Brazil. Now they are our last hope,” she said.

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Hughes reported from Bento Rodrigues, Brazil.