“Sickness, foul smell from bauxite mining mar Vietnam province”, 17 September 2014

Locals are suffering from permanent inflammation, crops have been destroyed, and the air stinks in a town in central Vietnam as a result of bauxite mining.All of these problems stem from the Tan Rai Bauxite-Aluminum Complex, which has extracted the soft mineral to produce aluminum for two years in Lam Dong Province…Living conditions in thearea have beenseverely degraded over the last six months due to the serious pollution…Many of the affected families have moved to rented houses on coffee farms to ‘flee’ the bad smells and pollution caused by the bauxite complex. Others are mulling evacuation. The underground water in the area has also been contaminated, so locals have to carry water home from three kilometers away for daily use…[T]he management of the bauxite complex has insisted that they comply with regulations, and their work is not harmful to the environment….[The] deputy general director of Lam Dong Aluminum Company, which manages the Tan Rai bauxite complex, said the exploitation of bauxite and the production of aluminum have caused no damage to the environment…