‘Silvery Rain’ from Italo-Argentine Ternium Brasil Steel Mill Harms Health, Economy, and Environment in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone

With the aim of denouncing the company in forums and institutions in European countries, residents from areas used as sacrifice zones by Ternium in Brazil, Mexico, and Liberia protested in the Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg. Photo: Aline Marins

It was October 2012, and the streets of São Fernando—an area in Santa Cruz, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro’s extreme West Zone, or Planning Area 5 (AP5)—woke up silver. A “silvery rain” formed by the thick soot from a nearby steel mill coated streets, houses, and residents’ cars. The pollution was toxic, and health damages to the residents were the responsibility of what was then ThyssenKrupp Companhia Siderúrgica do Atlântico (TKCSA), now Ternium Brasil, owned by an Italo-Argentine group.

The steel mill was installed in 2010 in Santa Cruz. The launch was attended by the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, state governor, and Brazil’s president. At the time, politicians and businessmen celebrated the mill’s arrival, anticipating increased revenues and lauding job opportunities for the population in the far West Zone and Greater Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region.

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This article is part of a series created in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the Digital Brazil Project on environmental justice in the favelas for RioOnWatch.