Vanguard Group
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 21 September 2016 11:30
- Written by editor
Mining corporations are dumping 200,000 tons of toxic tailings sludge directly into our water every day — and our retirement funds may be helping them do it.
Just four mines that Vanguard Group funds account for 86% of tailings dumps each year. Tell Vanguard we don't want our retirements financing the destruction of our oceans!
Sign the petitionA,
Mining produces some of the most toxic environmental waste of any industry, posing a bit of a problem for the corporations plundering our planet for profit. Unfortunately for us, they’ve found an easy way of dealing with the sludge: Dump it directly into the ocean.
“Deep Submarine Tailings Disposal” system (DSTD) is industry-speak for the appalling practice of funneling a poisoned mix of heavy metals, toxic coagulants, and chemicals through a 4-foot diameter pipeline onto sensitive sea and riverbeds at a rate of 200,000 tons a day.
Mutual fund financier Vanguard Group funds some of the worst offenders of ocean dumping. Just four of the many mines it invests in that practice DSTD account for 86% of the tailings dumped into bodies of water each year worldwide.
Tell Vanguard to divest from ocean dumping mines now!
It’s hard to fathom how catastrophic and far-reaching submarine tailings disposal is. Mine tailings are dumped directly into all manner of natural water bodies where they leach into local wetlands and settle on sea and riverbeds. The waste poisons marine life and nearby livestock, contaminates drinking water, and can smother and flood whole ecosystems above and below water.
We know this tactic of targeting a mine’s finances works -- because we’ve done it before. When the Carmichael mega-mine convinced the Australian government to approve its project, 50,000 SumOfUS members and partners came together to protect the Great Barrier Reef from environmental devastation by targeting the mine’s funders. Now we need your help to stop Vanguard from destroying our waterways and oceans.
Ask Vanguard to stop investing in mines that dumps directly into our oceans.
Thanks for all that you do,
Toni, Michael, and the rest of the SumOfUs team
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More information:
Why Is Mine Waste Being Dumped Directly Into the Ocean? EcoWatch, March 4, 2016
Troubled Waters: How mine waste dumping is poisoning our oceans, rivers and lakes, Earthworks, February 28, 2012
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