Environmentalists demand Freeport's temporary closure

Environmentalists demand Freeport's temporary closure

JAKARTA (JP): An environmental group demanded a temporary halt
to operations of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia following a
May 4 accident which resulted in four missing workers.

The chairwoman of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment
(Walhi) Emmy Hafild also announced on Monday the organization's
plans to sue Freeport on charges of environmental damage.

Walhi said Freeport had violated the 1997 environment law, and
government regulations on water pollution, rivers and management
of toxic materials and other harmful waste.

"We (Walhi) will be filing a lawsuit against the company this
week and demand a temporary closure of Freeport until the company
meets requirements for safe operation of its facility," Emmy
said, adding that Walhi also wants a review of Freeport's
contract.

Walhi is not recommending the permanent closure of the company
in Irian Jaya, she said. "For who would take care of the
environment rehabilitation then?"

Walhi also demanded that Freeport reduce its production scale
to a safe level.

Emmy said the Wanagon basin accident was caused because it
could not accommodate the waste from Freeport -- some 260,000
tons every day.

"Even at 33,000 tons during 1973 to 1990, the company's
activities had a devastating impact on the environment," Emmy
told a press conference.

Emmy also said that an independent analysis was needed in
order to determine an acceptable production scale for the
company.

The accident at the Grasberg mine in Tembagapura, Mimika
regency was caused by the slippage of overburden, which caused a
wave of water and material to overflow the Wanagon basin spillway
and enter Wanagon Valley.

Company officials blamed four days of rainfall -- which
reached an average of 40 millimeters a day -- as the cause of the
accident.

Antara on Monday quoted Mimika regent T.O. Potereyauw as
saying that the search had continued for the four missing
victims, but so far with no results.

Walhi's report said 420 million tons of solid waste had been
produced by Freeport's mining operation since 1995, about 95
percent of which was dumped in the Wanagon Valley.

Walhi activist Joko Waluyo, who observed the site after the
incident, said that the 50-meter high wave had also destroyed pig
stys, vegetable gardens and a burial ground of the Amungme tribe
in Banti village, some 12 kilometers downstream of the basin.

Emmy said that the earlier statement of Freeport's president
director Adrie Machribie's, which blamed heavy rain for the
incident, was "unacceptable."

She said that Walhi had warned Freeport "years ago" about the
possibility of heavy rain damaging the dumping system but
"Freeport said that they had already calculated (the rain
factor)."

Protest

Meanwhile in Jayapura, hundreds of Irianese students held a
peaceful demonstration at the local legislature demanding that
the government re-evaluate the company's Environmental Impact
Assessment (AMDAL).

Spokesman for the demonstrators, Diaz Gwijangge, said "Wanagon
Lake is a sacred place for the Amungme tribe ... Freeport has
been deliberately destroying the tribe's spiritual lands and
culture."

The protesters also demanded that Freeport stop dumping waste
in Mimika's Ajkwa River, saying that the practice has destroyed
thousands of hectares of mangrove and sago palm trees.

Yance Kayame, a member of the provincial council who met the
students, said that they were collecting data -- to be eventually
submitted to non-government organizations working on the
environment -- to decide the company's fate.

Legislators in Jakarta announced that Freeport's contract
could be revised if the company was found guilty of its
involvement in the incident.

Calls for a temporary halt to production operations, such as
those raised by Walhi, evoke the controversy surrounding rayon
and pulp producer PT Inti Indorayon Utama in North Sumatra and
gold mining firm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in North Sulawesi.

In both cases the government issued conflicting decisions,
raising feelings of insecurity among business operators. (08/eba)