23 MAY 2011www.wsj.com
Vedanta Denies Toxic Waste Leak
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
Last Wednesday, India Real Time wrote that villagers in Lanjigarh in the eastern state of Orissa were complaining that toxic waste was leaking from a pond belonging to Vedanta Aluminium Ltd.’s local alumina refinery into a nearby river. The company, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC, wasn’t immediately available for comment at that time. However, the company responded over the weekend saying there was no leakage of the waste, known as red mud for its color, as villagers were reporting.
Here is the company’s account of the May 16 event:
“On the 16th May, a heavy thunderstorm struck Lanjigarh, Orissa. Red Mud waste from the refinery is stored in a Red Mud Pond which is an earthen pond with sloping dyke walls with a base of 40 M wide and height of about 30M. Work to increase the height of the walls has been ongoing for the last six months.
During the rainstorm, the heavy rain caused loose earth from the construction area and the sloping sides to be washed into a local pond.
At no time, did the Red Mud waste overflow the dyke–the discoloration in the local pond was due to the natural orangish colour of the clay earth from which the dyke is constructed.”
Here is the company’s account of the May 16 event:
“On the 16th May, a heavy thunderstorm struck Lanjigarh, Orissa. Red Mud waste from the refinery is stored in a Red Mud Pond which is an earthen pond with sloping dyke walls with a base of 40 M wide and height of about 30M. Work to increase the height of the walls has been ongoing for the last six months.
During the rainstorm, the heavy rain caused loose earth from the construction area and the sloping sides to be washed into a local pond.
At no time, did the Red Mud waste overflow the dyke–the discoloration in the local pond was due to the natural orangish colour of the clay earth from which the dyke is constructed.”
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