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Good Morning Van,

It is my first day home after four months on the road. As I travelled I tried to present the work of our new office and of the Joining Hands program of the PCUSA. This collection of articles does it so much better and the one written by Jed Koball is extremely articulate and clear. Link

I look forward to Christmas at home with family. I hope you and Connie enjoy yours too.

Saludos y abrazos de Sara Rusty y Gabi

Sara Armstrong
PC(USA) Mission Co-Worker, Perú
http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/the-rev-sara-armstrong-and-russell-edmondson/

Renco's Toxic Lead Fight

Resource:  Bloomberg News

By Andrew Martin

Aross the river from Belinda Elida Barja’s two-room apartment, the lead and zinc smelters of Doe Run Peru spread smoke and dust in the mountain town of La Oroya.

Her 9-year-old son Kenyi has headaches, memory loss, stomach ailments and difficulty concentrating, Barja said. The lead in his blood measured 41 micrograms per deciliter in a 2007 test -- eight times the level the U.S. government considers a cause for action. Barja blames Doe Run Peru.

“They just think about making money,” she said.

Most of La Oroya’s children suffer elevated lead levels, according to the Peruvian government. Parents say some have symptoms -- consistent with lead poisoning -- that include anemia, convulsions, stunted growth, mental retardation and the ills Barja said her son suffers.

The question of responsibility is at the center of a high-stakes clash between Peru and U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert, who owned Doe Run Peru for more than a decade through Renco Group Inc. Far from defensive, Renco is demanding $800 million from Peru because it ordered a costly pollution clean-up that the company says forced Doe Run Peru into bankruptcy in 2010. Renco has said it’s not responsible for the children’s ailments.

Its demand was made under an arcane, often secretive investor-state arbitration system that is growing rapidly in size and scope, roiling global trade and angering countries from Australia to South Africa over the perceived trampling of their sovereign rights.

Read more...

La Oroya Refinery Will Not Be Sold After All

Resource:  Platts

By Renzo Pipoli

Doe Run Peru's La Oroya metal refinery will not be sold off as previously expected, as the company will instead be restructured, the court-appointed administrator said Friday.

"The creditors of Doe Run [Peru] met this week and agreed to change the mandate from a liquidation to a restructuring, designating Right Business as the administrator," Rocio Chavez, general manager of Right Business, said in an e-mail Friday. "It has given us 60 days to ready a restructuring plan."

Chavez said that if the mandate had not been changed, the plant would have been immediately closed and workers let go, because the prior mandate to liquidate assets was about to expire.

The plant is processing zinc and lead, but not copper. Chavez said the copper circuit remains closed because a project to produce sulfuric acid -- while at the same time cutting emissions -- and make other upgrades is not finished, "which makes that operation impossible."

The refinery stopped operating in mid-2009, after suppliers halted deliveries of feedstock mineral concentrates due to nonpayment. At the same time, the Peruvian government said the company had to invest in upgrades that would reduce pollution. The company's creditors eventually took it to bankruptcy court, leading to the appointment of a temporary administrator.

La Oroya, which before the closure had some 3,500 workers, restarted operations with fewer than 1,000 workers in July 2012, running just the zinc circuit. It restarted the lead circuit later the same year.

Upper Class Warfare In The Hamptons

Resource:  Mother Jones
Written by Josh Harkinson

Illustration: Martin Kozlowski

With twin 2,520-horsepower engines and up to 19 seats, the Sikorsky S-92 is among the world's most powerful civilian helicopters. "Helibuses" typically service offshore oil platforms and the like, but two years ago billionaire industrialist Ira Rennert acquired a posh version to shuttle himself between Manhattan and Long Island's exclusive Hamptons, where he owns a 63-acre, 110,000-square-foot villa complex. One of the first to notice the giant bird was Frank Dalene, founder and CEO of a successful luxury homebuilding company, who lives on a ridge along Rennert's flight path. Its whumping rotor was like "a lightning bolt striking nearby," says Dalene, a fast-talking 58-year-old with a long nose and narrow-set eyes. He blames the vibrations for "literally damaging my home."

Read more...

We apologize in advance for the language

Prominent American Businessman Ira Rennert Faces Extradition To Perú

Ira Rennert's House

Resource:  DC Bureau

By Angel Paez

Lima, Peru – American Ira Rennert, known for his lavish lifestyle and operating companies that have polluted whole communities, may soon face an international arrest warrant followed by extradition to Peru if a judge has her way.

Rennert faces charges relating to alleged financial and business irregularities involving the La Oroya lead smelter, a notorious facility accused of poisoning thousands of children and adults living near the infamous complex. The facility is one of the most contaminated industrial sites on earth where local children were exposed to high levels of lead for decades.

Rennert’s lawyers have tried to prevent his return to Peru to face official questioning in his role in managing the La Oroya metallurgical complex. The Peruvian government claims Rennert’s company, the majority shareholder of Doe Run Peru (DRP), made billions of dollars in profits off of La Oroya and never kept agreements to clean-up the huge site.

Read more...

Thank you Sara!

Citibank To Take Over "Perú's Chernobyl"

Resource:  World War 4 Report

Mon, 10/15/2012 - Creditors of the troubled Doe Run Peru company voted to sell the controversial metal smelting complex at La Oroya, Junín region, to Citibank, Peru's Energy and Mines Ministry (MEM) announced Oct. 11. The New York financial giant will have responsibility for reorganizing the smelter's debts and environmental management plan, as well as those of another scandal-ridden project that will be transferred, the Cobriza gold and copper mine in neighboring Huancavelica region. After three years of being idled by government order over pollution concerns, the decrepit Oroya smelter, which has been dubbed "Peru's Chernobyl," resumed limited operations in July. The local dispute over the issue bitterly divided the local community, pitting campesinos who oppose the smelter against residents employed by Doe Run, who were laid off when the plant was ordered shut. 

Last year, Doe Run Peru was cited by MEM for resuming construction of a tailings containment area at Cobriza without approval. The mine is still officially halted pending an environmental impact review.

If Its More Convenient...

Everyone also has an invitation from Rev. John Odom of Starmount Presbyterian Church in Greensboro to hear Hunter Farrell.  Hunter will be speaking at their location on Saturday, October 12, 10-11 AM for those who can’t make the Saturday evening or Sunday morning events at Alamance Church.

View Perú Mission Network in a larger map

Hunter Farrell To Visit Alamance Presbyterian Church

Dear Friends,

Hunter Farrell will be visiting Alamance Presbyterian Church next weekend. He will be speaking about the mission endeavors of our denomination (Presbyterian Church U.S.A.) and promoting the support of our mission co-workers who are changing lives around the world alongside of our mission partners. Events start on Saturday night (October 13th at 6:00 PM) at our new outdoor Pavilion where we will share some music, hear from Hunter, and where we will be raising funds for mission work in the Dominican Republic. We will have gumbo prepared by our master chef Charles Davis. ($15/adult) We would love for you to invite others to join us. Also, join us on Sunday morning (14th) at 8:45 AM for a mission breakfast and conversation followed by 10:00 AM worship that will be sure to transform the way you look at mission work. Worship will be followed by a lunch-meeting of church leaders and mission investors. Please send me an email if you plan to attend the lunch. (jacoballengoad@gmail.com)

On a personal note, I worked with Hunter in Perú as a part of an environmental advocacy campaign in La Oroya, Perú. The campaign resulted in epidemiological studies being conducted by the Saint Louis University and international media attention being brought to a human rights issue (lead poisoning of children) and ultimately the closing of a toxic smelter. Hunter, along with his Peruvian partners, was the driving force that shaped this ecumenical campaign that reached people throughout the world as an example of the church being a real presence on issues of injustice. Above all, Hunter is a humble leader. He will tell you, it was all about our Peruvian partners, and not about him. While that is certainly true, because our Peruvian partners were the primary stakeholders, Hunter was a driving force to help organize and energize people to fight for justice. He is a doctor in anthropology and an ordained minister, and he and his wife Ruth are parents to three lovely children who were adopted in Perú, Congo, and the United States. Hunter is fluent in 4 languages including French, English, Spanish, and Chaluba and he and his family have lived much more time abroad over the past thirty years than they have lived in the United States.

This won't be a mundane weekend. I posit that it will be a transformative weekend for all of us. Come join us, and get to know one of my favorite people in this world. It is also an excellent opportunity for those who are not a member of any faith community to come out and join us. Hunter is very approachable and speaks with respect and gentleness to people of all faiths.

Hunter's visit marks an important milestone for our church, as we celebrate our church's anniversary.

Alamance Presbyterian Church's Relay that will also will give some other activities that our church has going on in the month of October.  Map Link

Peace,
Jacob Goad

Doe Run Peru's La Oroya Restarts

The administrator of the Doe Run Peru company, Rocio Chavez, announced Saturday that operations will resume at the smelter in the city of La Oroya, 185 kilometers (115 miles) from Lima, which was shuttered three years ago due to the company's financial woes and failure to comply with environmental clean-up requirements.

"We have come to La Oroya to tell all the people of La Oroya and Peru that on this memorable date we announce the restarting of operations at the metallurgical complex of La Oroya after its being shut down for three years," Chavez said on RPP radio.

Full story...

GOP Panel Rips Donor's Business Practices In Perú

A Republican-controlled House panel on Thursday took the highly unusual step of slamming a U.S. company's environmental and trade practices abroad.

The Foreign Affairs Committee's human-rights panel held a hearing on the mining practices of Doe Run Peru, which is accused of running smelting operations that have caused massive environmental contamination. The company is a unit of the holding company Renco Group, whose billionaire CEO Ira Rennert is a longtime Republican donor who contributed more than $50,000 to House Minority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)'s reelection this year.

Full story...

Poison Harvest: Deadly U.S. Mine Pollution In Peru

A U.S. Congressional Subcommittee Hearing on La Oroya hosted by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ), with Presentations by Archbishop Pedro Barreto, Rosa Amaro and Dr. Fernando Serrano

This Thursday, July 19, 2:00 p.m. EST

You can watch online!  Link

A Letter From Jed Koball In Perú

Dear Friends,

I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  -  Acts 2:17


A year ago an unprecedented darkness fell upon the town of La Oroya. A group of 10 university students from the United States accompanying a group of 10 children and youth from La Oroya were violently attacked by a group of nearly 200 men. Throwing rocks and punches, the men chased the young people out of town.

More...

Trade Agreements vs Democracy

THE ANONYMOUS DEATH threats phoned to Archbishop Pedro Barreto and others in March told them to stop speaking out about the foreign-owned metals smelting plant in La Oroya, Peru.

Barreto, a Catholic archbishop of the Andean region that includes La Oroya, has been a leading advocate for the health of the 35,000-person town, which the plant has made one of the world’s most contaminated places: 99 percent of children there have dangerous levels of lead in their blood.

More...

Never Forget La Oroya!

David Rochkind Photography

"House Of Lead: A Story Of Greed"

Rennert's Perú Smelter In Trouble

American Ira Rennert is the CEO of the Renco Group Inc., a corporation known for its disastrous environmental record. Renco’s Doe Run Peru subsidiary controls one of the ten worst environmental sites in the world in La Oroya, Peru, according to the Blacksmith Institute. This lead smelter has been a cash cow for billionaire Rennert’s offshore companies. It has also exposed thousands of Peruvians to extraordinary high levels of lead contamination. Most of children in La Oroya have lead poisoning.

More...

Congressmen Send Letter Criticizing Doe Run

Eighteen congressional representatives from the U.S. sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner, to criticize the dealings of Doe Run in Perú.

More...

La Oroya Health

Our environmental study of La Oroya was finally published! It is the only independent study done in La Oroya since the plant stopped operating -- showing the continued and extremely high public health risks the contamination continues to present to children.

Jed Hawkes Koball

Lead, Arsenic, and Cadmium Contamination and Its Impact on Children's Health in La Oroya, Peru.

Student Group Attacked In Perú

March 25, 2011
From Presbyterian News Service
by Jerry Van Marter

LOUISVILLE

Leaders of the Presbyterian Campus Ministry at the University of Arizona in Tucson have sent a letter to supporters describing the March 16 assault on a PCM student group in La Oroya, Peru, and thanking them for their prayerful response to the attack.

Group members were interviewed by KVOA, the NBC television affiliate in Tucson on March 24. That story and interview is available on the KVOA Web site.

The student group, along with advisors, PC(USA) mission worker Jed Koball, and Peruvian partners from the Joining Hands Network Peru ― a ministry of the Presbyterian Hunger Program ― traveled to La Oroya, a mountain city outside the capital city of Lima to meet with children and youth of that community whose health has been severely compromised by the operations at the Doe Run Company smelter.

A 2005 study by the St. Louis University revealed that virtually every child in La Oroya suffers from acute lead poisoning caused by air and water pollution from the plant, which is owned and operated by the St. Louis-based Doe Run Company.

With the permission of La Oroya’s mayor, the American collegians and their young Peruvian hosts were painting a mural expressing environmental themes on a wall near the smelter when they were attacked by a mob of between 200 and 300 who appeared to be coming from the Doe Run plant.

No one was seriously injured and the group returned to Tucson on March 20.

The full text of the letter, from PCM Director Ellen Dawson and Moderator Jayne Raffety, dated March 24:

Dear friends of Arizona Presbyterian Campus Ministry,

Thank you for all the support for the PCM Spring Break Mission Team as we headed to Peru. As most of you know, they landed in Lima, Peru on Saturday, March 12th. After worshiping at a church in Lima and spending some time together in the city on Sunday, the team drove 4 hours up into the Andes Mountains on Monday, March 14th to begin their mission partnership in the town of La Oroya. They were invited there by the PC(USA) and The Joining Hands Network Peru to work alongside children and youth in La Oroya who are part of two Non‐Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in that city: CambiaLo (ChangeIt) and Red de Jovenes Ambientalistas (Network of Youth Environmentalists ). These NGOs, as part of the Joining Hands Network Peru, have been working closely with the Presbyterian Church and engaged with partners of this community for a number of years on issues of the environment and public health.

On Monday and Tuesday, the team spent time with the children and youth, becoming friends through the language barriers, sharing stories, learning about La Oroya, and even sharing a presentation about our own local environmental challenges around conserving water here in the deserts of Arizona.

On Tuesday, they were able to go together with the youth to meet with the Mayor of La Oroya, as well as the Mayor of Santa Rosa de Sacca. The youth and our own PCM students were able to ask questions about their environmental concerns and how the city plans to involve children, youth, and young adults in the ongoing challenges and needed change.

On Wednesday, March 16th, the CambiaLo kids and the Red de Jovenes Ambientalistas came to meet with the PCM Team for breakfast. After sharing a quick bite to eat, they gathered together to begin planning what they would paint that day ― a mural that would give those youth a voice about the environment.

Just as a group from Colorado College had done so last summer, the PCM Team would work alongside these youth to paint something they had designed as friends and partners. The NGO had received permission from the La Oroya Mayor’s office to paint a mural, and the office had even prepared the space with white paint that morning.

Around 10:00 a.m., as they started to outline the mural in chalk and then paint, several locals and a reporter stopped by to question them to what they were doing. Their leader, PC(USA) Mission Co‐Worker Jed Koball explained the project, as did Sherly and Jaime, the directors of the CambiaLo and Red de Jovenes.

People continued to question them as they continued to paint. Around 12:45, some of the group noticed a large number of people exiting the nearby plant, walking across the bridge toward where they were painting. The people surrounded them and started taking the paint and other items and throwing them in the river across the street. These people, numbering over 200, were allegedly workers from the Doe Run smelting factory in La Oroya.

Once the pushing started, as well as getting items thrown at them, they immediately left the site and sought shelter. They were all eventually reunited at the police station, and they left for Lima immediately. The rest of their time was spent in Lima, and they all returned home safely on Sunday, March 20th.

We invite you to read the full account of this event at www.pcusa.org/news. We also invite you to read the students’ own account on the PCM website’s Blog. A few of the students and our ministry colleagues were hurt, though not seriously. We are thankful that the group responded non‐violently to the assaults.

As PCM Director Ellen Dawson said to the Arizona Daily Star, “they (PCM students) all were very protective of the kids that were with us, and never responded with violence. I’m so proud of them.” Police reports and notifications to the Peruvian government were made, and human rights lawyers in Lima are investigating the case further.

You too can be proud of our students, who though rattled, are doing their best to do what Ellen and I have encouraged them to do: look at this through the lens of their faith, pray about it, and listen for God’s voice in the midst. We hope that you can do the same. We believe that we will all continue to process this sad, unfortunate, and harrowing event. We also pray that this will not prevent nor hinder anyone’s desire and ability to serve our brothers and sisters here and all around the world.

The PCM Team met with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance First Responders and the Presbytery has offered additional resources and support. Counseling resources are also available, and the entire team appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers they have already received.

As we gathered Tuesday night at the Campus Christian Center as a PCM faith community to share a meal, fellowship, and worship, we were humbled and overwhelmed by the love this community has for the team! We ask for your continued support, prayers, hugs, and understanding in the days ahead ― not just for us, but also for our mission partners in Peru. May we all continue on, seeking justice, and loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).

In the Peace of Christ Jesus,

Ellen Dawson, PCM Director

Jayne Raffety, PCM Moderator