NewsWhore
02-06-2007, 06:20 PM
The Dominican government's case against the AES Corporation in a US court resumes this coming 16 February. In advance of the hearing, the law firm Burke Pyle LLC of Philadelphia and Washington, DC deposited a motion in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on 22 January 2007 for summary judgment against Florida businessman Roger Fina and AES on behalf of the Dominican Republic. The DR is asking for a compensation payment for the dumping of 80,000 tons of ash containing arsenic and other noxious substances from an AES power plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico that polluted the air, water and land near the northwestern town of Manzanillo and the northeastern province of Samana.
The case moved after the US Court ruled that the DR had grounds "for bringing nuisance, civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting claims for pollution damages in Manzanillo and Samana" and that such damage claims should be heard under Dominican Law 64-00, which the Court found allows the DR government itself to claim damages.
The lawyers have submitted proof that the ash was dumped in the DR despite the fact that AES was aware that the Ministry of Environment had not issued the necessary permit. A limited certificate was issued after the first shipload was dumped but it specified that the company had to take all measures needed to prevent harm to the environment, a condition they did not fulfill. The lawyers established that Fina, the contractor, continued to dump ash even after the permit had expired.
The legal documents deposited by the DR government lawyers seek to establish that AES clearly took part in, and was the financial beneficiary of the dumping, as it knowingly hired Fina, a businessman without any previous experience of disposing of (or using) the AES ash because Fina was substantially cheaper than retaining an experienced ash disposal contractor. The law firm has deposited in court documents that establish that AES executives Al Dyer and David Stone authorized Fina to take the ash to the DR and leave it in Manzanillo and Samana.
AES is the largest private power generator in the DR. It manages the EdeEste utility and operates the Andres natural gas plant and the Los Mina plants, for a total 987 MW generation capacity.
To read more on the case, see:
http://dr1.com/news/2007/020607_AESsuit.pdf
http://dr1.com/news/2006/032706_AESsuit.pdf
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
The case moved after the US Court ruled that the DR had grounds "for bringing nuisance, civil conspiracy and aiding and abetting claims for pollution damages in Manzanillo and Samana" and that such damage claims should be heard under Dominican Law 64-00, which the Court found allows the DR government itself to claim damages.
The lawyers have submitted proof that the ash was dumped in the DR despite the fact that AES was aware that the Ministry of Environment had not issued the necessary permit. A limited certificate was issued after the first shipload was dumped but it specified that the company had to take all measures needed to prevent harm to the environment, a condition they did not fulfill. The lawyers established that Fina, the contractor, continued to dump ash even after the permit had expired.
The legal documents deposited by the DR government lawyers seek to establish that AES clearly took part in, and was the financial beneficiary of the dumping, as it knowingly hired Fina, a businessman without any previous experience of disposing of (or using) the AES ash because Fina was substantially cheaper than retaining an experienced ash disposal contractor. The law firm has deposited in court documents that establish that AES executives Al Dyer and David Stone authorized Fina to take the ash to the DR and leave it in Manzanillo and Samana.
AES is the largest private power generator in the DR. It manages the EdeEste utility and operates the Andres natural gas plant and the Los Mina plants, for a total 987 MW generation capacity.
To read more on the case, see:
http://dr1.com/news/2007/020607_AESsuit.pdf
http://dr1.com/news/2006/032706_AESsuit.pdf
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)