Brazilian petrochemical company settles with city where mining destroyed entire neighborhoods

By ELÉONORE HUGHES
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s petrochemical giant Braskem says it has reached a $356 million settlement with a coastal city where four decades of the company’s rock salt mining destroyed five urban neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people. Around 200,000 people in the Alagoas state’s capital of Maceio were affected by the excessive extraction of rock salt. In recent years, several Maceio communities became ghost towns as residents accepted Braskem’s payouts to relocate. The municipality says Friday’s settlement — about 1.7 billion Brazilian reais — between Braskem and Maceio will be used for structural works in the city and for a residents’ support fund. Local activists were less enthusiastic following Friday’s announcement.