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The Farmers’ Association of HCM City, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces are preparing a lawsuit against Vedan to be filed in late July.
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“The HCM City Bar Association has helped us to deliver forms for farmers’ signatures and to then collect them. If there is no change, the three provinces’ farmers will bring this case to court,” confirmed Nguyen Van Phung, HCM City Farmers’ Association Vice-Chair.
Phung explained that the lawsuit must be lodged by early August 2010, as the law states that lawsuits must be lodged within 24 months after the event.
Vedan had its polluting activities revealed in September 2008 and the Farmers’ Associations in the three provinces have met with them many times to define compensation. The seasoning powder producer has always insisted on paying very low damages.
HCM City farmers have claimed 45.7 billion dong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau 53 billion dong and Dong Nai 120 billion dong in costs associated with losses caused by the water pollution. Vedan has only agreed to pay 7 billion dong to HCM City, 10 billion dong to Ba Ria-Vung Tau and 15 billion dong to Dong Nai.
Phung added that the Institute for Environment’s survey of pollution caused by Vedan’s waste water in Thi Vai River is a very important reference document for the court. The report states that Vedan must be responsible for 89 percent of pollution in the river, but Vedan challenged this figure, only agreeing to 65 percent. Afterwards, the two sides compromised and set it at 77 percent.
“Based on the Institute for Environment’s data, we can say that Vedan is the major polluter of Thi Vai River. Vedan always asks farmers for evidence. It is difficult, but not impossible. If it is necessary, we will sit down with every farmer to collect data,” asserted HCM City Farmers’ Association Chair Phung.
The Thi Vai River begins in Long Thanh province, runs through Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and a HCM City district, before pouring into the East Sea. Its total length is some 76 kilometers and its total basin area is some 300 square kilometers.
On September 8, 2008, the Environmental Police Agency and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s (MoNRE) inspectors caught Vedan discharging untreated waste water into the Thi Vai River.
The company had been polluting the river for 14 years with up to 105.6 million liters of untreated wastewater per month. The toxic waters killed farmers’ fish and shrimp and ruined farmland along the river’s banks.
MoNRE suspended the plant’s wastewater discharge license and fined the company 267.5 million dong ($15,030). The ministry also demanded another 127 billion dong ($7.14 million) from the company in overdue environmental fees. The company paid the fine and fees in three installments.
PV