Release: Newmont: Technical Team Report is full of misinterpretations and unrealistic assumptions
Friday, December 17 2004 - 01:55 AM WIB
?We have no issues with the raw data collected by the Technical team. It is consistent with our own monitoring, but we have strong objections to their interpretation of the data,? said Robert Gallagher, Newmont?s Vice President of Operations, Indonesia at a news conference.
?The interpretations and assumptions are so biased that even when the team found that the water and fish of Buyat Bay contained lower than permitted levels of heavy metals their report still came to the conclusion that there was pollution,? he said.
?We are also disappointed the Technical Team reverted to a non-existent ASEAN standard to support their claim that the sediments deposited on the floor of Buyat Bay constitute pollution.
Mr Gallagher called on the government to resolve the issue soon for the sake of the residents of Buyat. ?The livelihood of many of the Buyat Bay villagers has been affected because they have difficulty selling their fish as a result of unjustifiable allegations of pollution in the bay. The longer this case drags on the more they would suffer.?
He said that the best way to solve the question of whether there is pollution in Buyat Bay is to conduct an open and transparent evaluation of the data by appropriate experts.
?This was not the approach taken by the technical team as evidenced by the numerous expressions of dissent from Team members such as UNSRAT, UNIMA and Pemda Sulut.
?Newmont is confident that an open and transparent scrutiny by appropriate experts will demonstrate once and for all that there is no pollution in Buyat Bay,? he said. ?if the technical team has done everything properly as they said they have then there is nothing to hide and they should not have any objections to such scrutiny,? he said. (end of release)
Source: Newmont Indonesia