Spanish oil spill ruling causes stir

MADRID, Spain -- The Spanish government has said it may appeal a judge's ruling that cleared 25 people of criminal acts in Spain's worst environmental disaster.

Environment Minister Jaume Matas told state television on Thursday the ruling threatened to set "a dangerous precedent of ecological impunity."

Environmental groups also slammed Wednesday's ruling by Judge Celia Belhadj-Ben Gomez who found that none of the 25 people under investigation were guilty of a crime when a reservoir at a metals mine gave way.

In May 1998, nearly 247 million cubic feet of poisonous sludge and contaminated water gushed into a river near the Donana National Park, one of Europe's largest nature reserves.

Thousands of fish and other wildlife were killed, and local farmers claimed serious damage had been caused.

"We are studying lodging an appeal as we have always thought there was criminal responsibility," Matas said.

"Above all (we should) avoid giving people the impression that a crime of this nature can occur without anyone to shoulder the consequences."

Local farmers already said they would appeal the ruling.

Those under investigation included 13 workers of the contractor that built the reservoir, seven employees of mining firm Boliden Apirsa -- a unit of the Swedish-Canadian group Boliden -- two officials of the Andalusia regional government and three from the Spanish mining institute ITGE.

The mining company said the ruling vindicated the firm, but environmental groups pressed for a new probe.

Greenpeace branded the judge's decision as "unacceptable" and the World Wide Fund for Nature said the ruling revealed the inability of legal systems to mete out justice in environmental disasters.

Bolida Apirsa, which produces zinc, lead, silver and copper at the mine near Seville, said in a statement it was still studying the ruling but that it "corroborates that Boliden Aspira was not at fault."

The company applied for "suspension of payments" bankruptcy proceedings in October, saying the mine had suffered continuous losses since reopening in the second quarter of 1999.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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