Ira Rennert, the Renco Group.

• Author: Wallach, Lori
• Position: Brief article

In addition to owning one of the largest houses in the country, Ira Rennert--the seventy-seventh richest person in the United States--owns Renco Group, Inc. Renco has used a U.S. "free trade" agreement to try to evade responsibility to clean up its metal smelter's toxic emissions in La Oroya, Peru--one of the world's ten most polluted sites. Proving that today's "trade" deals are not mainly about trade but protecting corporate interests, Rennert's corporation is using a provision of the U.S.-Peru free trade agreement that empowers multinational corporations to skirt domestic courts and laws and directly "sue" governments over health and environmental...