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)