Court rules against Freeport on fatal accident

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)