Court rules against Freeport on fatal accident
JAKARTA (JP): U.S.-based mining company PT Freeport Indonesia suffered a legal blow on Tuesday when the South Jakarta District Court ruled against it, saying that the firm had spread misleading information about an accident that allegedly claimed four lives at its operation in Irian Jaya two years ago.
"The accused (Freeport) did not reveal the truth behind the incident," presiding judge Rusman Dani Achmad said in the verdict.
Freeport, which has been operating here since 1960, faced the lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi).
Rusman said Freeport had violated Law No.23/1997 on environmental management, which requires every company to provide accurate and correct information about its environmental management activities.
The court ordered Freeport to follow the Environmental Management Impact Agency (Bapedal) guidelines on the rate of chemical waste it is allowed to release into rivers or lakes to stop the level of environmental damage there.
Freeport is also required to reduce the amount of waste by following guidelines from Bapedal and to maximize the function of its early warning system for floods at its operation in Irian Jaya.
However, the court rejected Walhi's demand that Freeport make a public apology through national and international mass media.
Walhi sued the firm following a fatal accident on May 4, 2000, when a large pile of waste belonging to Freeport at Wanagon Lake near its copper and gold mine in Grasberg, Irian Jaya, collapsed. Four workers went missing during the accident and were presumed dead.
The accident also caused a flood in Banti, a village about 16 kilometers from Wanagon Lake. Residents there said the early warning system for floods was triggered 30 minutes after it hit the village.
Freeport, however, claimed that the incident was caused when a large amount of waste toppled over, causing water and material in the Wanagon basin spillway to spill over into Wanagon valley.
In its news release on May 5, 2000, Freeport said that several days prior to the incident, rainfall in the area amounted to 40 millimeters a day, or five times more than usual.
Freeport also claimed that the early warning system had been set up perfectly. The information was also mentioned during a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VIII for environmental, science and technology affairs on June 28, 2000.
In a news release dated May 24, 2000, Freeport claimed that the May 4 accident did not pose any risk to human health or have an impact on the environment.
The court also stated that Freeport had damaged the environment as revealed by the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal).
The agency reported on April 3, 2000, that Freeport had used Wanagon Lake to dump and neutralize acid slag, which had polluted Wanagon river in June 1998, and from March 21 to March 25, 2000. It also reported on May 17, 2000, that the sediment in Wanagon Lake at the time of the incident contained poisonous and dangerous material.
Lukmanul Hakim, a lawyer for Walhi, said that the verdict reflected the success of Indonesians in general and the Irianese in particular on maintaining the environment here.
"This is a good start for similar cases," he said.
Walhi chairwoman Emmy Hafild praised the judges who were showing concern for environmental cases.
"The verdict carries a message that companies here are required to give accurate information to the public, particularly on environmental issues," she told The Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile, Minang Warman, the lawyer for Freeport, said that he would file an appeal.
He said after the trial that the verdict was based on several matters that were not included in the plaintiffs statement of claim, such as the requirement to reduce pollution. (04)