Alabama Coal Company Employees Being Charged

     The BBC reports prosecutors in Columbia will charge the six unnamed employee of The Drummond Company in connection with an environmental disaster in January of last year.
     Drummond describes the incident this way:

On January 13, 2013 one of Drummond’s barges took on water due to high wind and wave conditions.  This occurred at night and was not discovered until early the next morning.  Drummond onsite supervisors implemented rescue measures to avoid sinking of the barge which included using a crane to dip water out of the barge and dump it into the ocean to keep the barge from completely sinking.  Unfortunately, the water contained some coal and technical analysis estimates that approximately 200 tonnes were deposited into the ocean.  The incident was an industrial accident and Drummond truly regrets this occurrence.

     A website called Columbia Reports adds the allegation that Drummond tried to hide the coal spill.
   The announcement from the Columbian prosecutor's office says the company dumped 500 tons of coal---not the 200 claimed by Drummond--and claims "the ecosystem of the Colombian Caribbean in this sector can not be recovered within 30 or 40 years".