Walhi plans to sue Freeport this week

The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) said it would file a lawsuit against copper and gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia demanding the suspension of the company's operation until it improved its environmental protection program.

Walhi's executive director Emmy Hafild said on Monday the organization, on behalf of the Indonesian people, would file the lawsuit this week in the South Jakarta District Court on charges that the company had violated the existing regulations on environment by dumping its overburden into the Wanagon lake.

Walhi's lawsuit plan came after the Ministry of Mines and Energy decided late last week to temporarily bar Freeport from continuing using the Wanagon lake as the dumping site for its overburden.

The ministry made the decision following a recent collapse of the company's overburden pile into the lake, which led to the disappearance of four workers of the company's sub-contractors working near the lake.

But, Emmy said the closure of the Wanagon lake was not enough. Freeport should stop operations until it improve its environmental protection measures.

Freeport, which operates a huge copper and gold mine in the Grasberg area in Irian Jaya, is the subsidiary of American mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.

In a statement distributed to the reporters during the press conference, Walhi stated the overburden dumped by Freeport into the lake could be categorized as hazardous and toxic waste since it contained copper elements which would produce sulfate when exposed to air; and would cause acid mine drainage when reacting on rainfall.

It said Freeport dumped 95 percent of its overburden into the Wanagon lake, and the remaining 5 percent to the Carstenz valley.

The company had thus far discharged of 420 million tons of overburden since 1995 and the volume of the overburden would reach an estimated 4 billion tons at the end of Freeport's mining operation. The overburden pile would be 500 meter heigh at the end of the mining operation, Walhi said.

Walhi further said the Wanagon lake was a sacred place for the local tribes people who considered the lake as isorei (male dwelling place), the dwelling place of their ancestors who protect the environment.

The lake, whose water flows into the Wanagon river was formerly a source of clean water for the local people in their daily activities, including washing, cooking and others. But, they could no longer use the water after Freeport used it as its dumping site, Walhi said.

According to Walhi, Freeport had never negotiated with the local people on the use of the lake as its dumping site. (*)