The civil trial that opened Tuesday is hearing the case against the Boliden company that ran the Los Frailes Aznalcollar mine where the walls of a wastewater reservoir burst, pouring an estimated 1.3 billion gallons of acidic liquid into the Guadiamar River in southern Seville province in what was one of Spain's worst environmental disasters.
Boliden claims it had been authorized to increase the size of the reservoir at Aznalcollar before the walls broke, and that it later voluntarily cleaned up at a cost of some 80 million euros. "In addition, Donana remained completely unaffected by the accident, which was of course very important. The financial disagreement between Boliden and the region will now be tried, which we welcome, not least since the accident happened 25 years ago."