Walhi sues government over mining project
Walhi sues government over mining project
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Mines for approving a PT Freeport environmental management plan without consulting it as a partner.
Various governmental organizations and Walhi, a non-permanent member of the ministry's commission that carries out environmental impact analyses (Amdal), were all supposed to be in charge of the Jayapura-based mining company's projects.
"We want the Jakarta State Administrative Court to rule that the secretary-general's approval of Freeport's environmental management and monitoring plans are unlawful," Walhi's Chairman M.S. Zulkarnain said in the lawsuit.
"We want the Court to order the secretary-general to revoke his approval of the environmental management and monitoring plans," he added.
Zulkarnain said the ministry of mines and energy issued the approval without consulting with the ministry's Amdal commission.
He argued that according to the law of 1993 on environmental impact management, a ministry cannot endorse any environmental impact management plan without the approval of all commission members.
The approval, signed by the ministry's secretary-general Umar Said, was issued on Feb. 17. It includes the ministry's approval of Freeport's environmental management and monitoring plans for copper mining in the Fak Fak and Paniai regencies in Irian Jaya.
PT Freeport agreed last year to re-evaluate its environmental management and monitoring plans before submitting them to the commission for approval, he said.
He said that Walhi had provided input to the central Amdal commission on Freeport's environmental management and monitoring plans regarding the danger of the company's industrial waste.
Meanwhile Freeport's environmental manager Bruce Marsh denied charges that the company had obtained the approval illegally.
"It is not true that the Ministry of Mines and Energy has violated the proper procedures in approving our environmental management and monitoring plans," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Marsh dismissed Walhi's suing the secretary-general as "unprofessional".
"Walhi is a member of the ministry's Amdal central commission, which should have brought things in dispute into the commission's internal meeting before filing the lawsuit," he said.
Head of the Environmental and Technology Bureau of the Ministry of Mines and Energy Dibyo Kuntjoro also denied Walhi's allegation that the ministry violated the procedures.
"A technical team evaluated Freeport's environmental management and monitoring plans three times before issuing the approval," he told the Post.
He said the technical team conducted an on-the-spot check on the environment in its mining area and field trips to the project sites. In addition the team interviewed local villagers and examined its documents.
He also said there are no articles in the government regulation saying that a non-permanent member of the Amdal commission should also be included to approve a company's environmental impact analysis.
According to the government regulation, Walhi and other non- governmental organizations are non-permanent members. The permanent members include representatives from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Investment Coordinating Board, the National Land Agency, and related experts. (imn)