E-Newsletter may 2021

Cerrejón and Provincial reached a historic agreement in 2021

Cerrejón has made progress in complying with the provisions set out in Ruling T-614 by strengthening the following operational measures:

• Design and installation of a groundwater monitoring network with 13 stations along the river to analyses the quality and groundwater levels of the Rancheria River.
• Construction of additional perimeter channels for water management on the internal face of the landfill that borders the Patilla pit and a discharge channel from the Patilla pond.
• In order not to exceed 65 decibels during the day or 55 decibels at night, it was decided to stop using the Patilla landfill, which was the closest to the Provincial community. In addition, a real-time environmental noise monitoring station was installed at the Reservation.
• In order to strengthen control of emissions at the Patilla pit, the closest to Provincial, activities were increased to wet the mining routes and for circulation of light equipment, new water cannons were installed, and the process to rehabilitate land at the Patilla pit has been accelerated.
• To control the spontaneous combustion of coal that produces odours that bother the community, Cerrejón has taken preventive actions, such as the periodic sealing of seams with bitumen, and corrective actions such as the use of machinery to extinguish fires, use of filling inside the pit, and control of spontaneous combustion by advancing the mining.

However, some obligations required agreements with the community, such as cleaning activities on homes, water wells, and the vegetation surrounding the community, and defining the air quality standard that will apply to this community in the future.

To this end, in 2020, Cerrejón, the Town Council Governor, and several of the Traditional Authorities of the Provincial community began discussions to reach an agreement to carry out the above-mentioned orders from the Court. In November of that year, a preliminary agreement was reached on the mechanisms to comply with the ruling and, at the same time, to promote actions to improve the living conditions of this community over the coming years.

This pre-agreement was strengthened in March 2021 by reaching a final agreement with one hundred percent of the families at the reservation, the Traditional Authorities, and the new Town Council Governor. The agreement reached includes:

• Definition of a methodology to jointly define, among the community, Cerrejón, a third-party expert, and the Ministry of the Environment, the air quality standard that will apply to this community.
• Joint definition of a cleaning program for houses, water reservoirs, and other areas for five years, which will be funded by the company and implemented by community members.
• Improved access to health services, including the construction and funding of a new health centre within the Provincial community.
• The development of productive projects that will generate income for the community and contribute to the environmental rehabilitation of different areas of the reservation by planting more than 248,000 trees over a three-year period through: 1) the creation of a nursery for the production of native species that will produce 100,000 plants per year, and 2) contracting, along with the reservation, activities to plant pastures to begin the rehabilitation process and planting of trees for floral enrichment of areas close to their land.

“Today has been an important day. We had a dialogue between Cerrejón and the Indigenous community in Provincial, touching on very important points in the agreement we had already signed. Now we are intent on moving forward and taking another step in developing the agreed upon actions,” confirmed Duber Brito, Town Council Governor of the Provincial community.

Highlights of Provincial and Cerrejón engagement

Cerrejón has sought to maintain a respectful and constructive relationship with all the communities neighbouring its operation, including Provincial, and has made an effort to work with their leaders and governors to contribute to improving their living conditions. Nevertheless, the company has been respectful of the existence of differing viewpoints and positions within the community on the company’s performance in regard to social and environmental matters, and has always sought to reach agreements when differences arise.

2015 Agreement

In 2014, some representatives of the Provincial community filed a complaint with the company that led to a conciliation process that lasted more than six months and concluded in an agreement, signed in 2015, that sought to implement actions to improve the living conditions of the families at the reservation. The agreement signed in September 2015 included five commitments, four of which have already been fulfilled:

1. Handover in 2016 of 490 hectares of productive land to the community for agricultural production.

2. Creation of a fund for the purchase of animals, seeds, and tools needed for cultivation of corn, guinea, taro, pumpkin, watermelon, melon, and avocado.

3. Training of young people from the reservation in preservation of Wayuu traditions and customs, especially traditional dance and music, the making of traditional instruments, and the practice of traditional Wayuu games.

4. Educational support for the training of 15 Wayuu youth from the community through technical, technological, and professional studies.

5. Implementation of an environmental education program that was expected to last four years. However, due to restrictions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was suspended

Tutela 2015

Despite the progress made in fulfilling these agreements, two families filed a tutela action (for protection of fundamental rights) in 2015, alleging impacts on the health of a minor caused by Cerrejón’s operation. This tutela was legally dismissed as there was no evidence proving that the mining operation was affecting the health of the child. Prior to the tutela, Cerrejón had offered medical assistance to the child’s family. Nevertheless, the family decided not to accept this offer. 

The final ruling ordered health institutions to provide medical care to the families (Order fulfilled); the environmental authorities to implement an action plan to reduce pollution levels from dust particles and emissions in Las Casitas, Provincial, and Barrancas (Implemented, with activities still in progress); and for Cerrejón to do technical studies to determine the causes of damage in the child’s home and to carry out corrective measures, if required (Order fulfilled).

Ruling T-614 of 2019

In 2017, two individuals filed a tutela action on behalf of their communities and a minor, alleging health impacts caused by the company’s operation. This tutela was presented with assistance from Colombian NGOs and was selected for review by the Constitutional Court, which issued Ruling T-614 in 2019 ordering Cerrejón to implement additional measures to:

1. Prevent contamination of water sources.

2. Decrease noise levels in the areas around Provincial.

3. Carry out cleaning activities in the homes, water wells, and vegetation surrounding the community.

4. Control particulate matter emissions so that air quality at the Reservation is maintained at concentrations not exceeding the standards defined by the Court.

5. Implement an air quality standard agreed upon with the Provincial community.

6. Monitoring of ignited seams in a radius of five kilometers around the Reservation.

Cerrejón has made progress in fulfilling these orders and to date has achieved:

• Design and installation of a groundwater monitoring network with 13 stations along the river to analyse the quality and groundwater levels of the Rancheria River.
• Construction of additional perimeter channels for water management on the internal face of the landfill that borders the Patilla pit and a discharge channel from the Patilla pond.
• In order not to exceed 65 decibels during the day or 55 decibels at night, it was decided to stop using the Patilla landfill, which was the closest to the Provincial community. In addition, a real-time environmental noise monitoring station was installed at the Reservation.
• In order to strengthen control of emissions at the Patilla pit, the closest to Provincial, activities were increased to wet the mining routes and for circulation of light equipment, new water cannons were installed, and the process to rehabilitate land at the Patilla pit has been accelerated.
• To control the spontaneous combustion of coal, which produces odours that bother the community, Cerrejón has taken preventive actions, such as the periodic sealing of seams with bitumen, and corrective actions, such as the use of machinery to extinguish fires, use of filling inside the pit, and control of spontaneous combustion by advancing the mining.

The implementation measures for cleaning houses, water reservoirs, crops, and areas around the reservation, as well as defining the final air quality standard that applies to this community, required agreement with the community, reached in 2021.

Provincial: background and context

Colombia is characterised by being a country with great cultural and ethnic diversity, and 3.4% of the Colombian population is Indigenous. One of the largest Indigenous groups in Colombia is the Wayuu, an ethnic group that lives on the peninsula of La Guajira, between Venezuela and Colombia, and makes up 38% of the population in this region.

The Wayuu live in small autonomous communities and tend to preserve their ancestral traditions and customs. Some Wayuu communities are part of Cerrejón’s area of influence, among them the Provincial Indigenous Reservation, which is located to the south of the mining operation.

This Reservation, established since 1988, is made up of seven communities and has 16 Traditional Authorities and about 1,100 people in 222 families. In addition to the Traditional Authorities, the Reservation is governed by a Town Council Governor, elected for one-year terms.