Letters to DTE

Down to Earth No 69  May 2006

DTE welcomes readers' comments and reactions to our reports. Please email letters to dte@gn.apc.org, fax to +44 16977 46266 or send by mail to DTE, 59 Athenlay Road, London SE15 3EN, England.

Freeport/Rio Tinto payments to military and police

Dear DTE,

I was very interested to get your newsletter, and in particular to read your new news about Freeport's payments to the TNI in West Papua [DTE 68]. You may be interested to know that I was, so far as I know, the first person to reveal Freeport's payments to the Indonesian military in an article in the New Statesman, "Indonesia's next East Timor?" (10 July 2000). This was I think a year before the SEC condemned Freeport for making payments.

The irony for the West Papuans was obviously that not only were Freeport mining *their* resources, they were giving substantial sums to the Papuans' occupiers to do so. The journalistic irony for me was that nobody would believe the story to begin with, and I couldn't publish it that way round, only include a summary of what I'd found at the end of the article.

You may be interested to see the piece at www.newstatesman.com/200007100026. I'm shocked to see that Freeport are still getting away with it.

All good wishes
Julian Evans

julian@julianevans.com, 
Bristol, UK

Risks for Submarine Tailings Disposal (STD) in Indonesia revisited

Dear DTE,

Regarding the feature "New mine will mean more marine pollution in Sulawesi" in the last DTE Newsletter [DTE 68]:

A.Testimonial for the World Bank Extractive Industries Review.

In response to the recent articles on waste management by coastal miners in bio-diverse regions, I would like to bring to your attention a paper presented by APEX Environmental (Kahn 2003a) to the World Bank's Extractive Industries Review during their Asia-Pacific round held in Bali.

This paper focuses on current as well as anticipated environmental and socio-economic impacts of submarine tailings disposal (STD) activities in Southeast Asia and includes the following statements of concern:

1. In a region as oceanographically complex as Southeast Asia, with its extensive archipelagos and diverse bathymetry, the argument that any assumed marine thermocline could act as an effective barrier against vertical waste transport is not realistic.
2. STD waste and toxin re-suspension to surface water may occur through biological vectors.
3. STD has an inherent economical risk to local and export fisheries because of (real or perceived) contamination of marine resources.
4. STD may affect increased human health risks through direct or indirect exposure to mining wastes.
5. mining procedures such as STD may have a negative impact on numerous other important socio-economic and environmental factors, ranging from additional (and often illegal) small-scale mining activities by opportunistic individuals, to reduced marine tourism potential.
6. STD is likely to cause large-scale habitat degradation of meso- and bathypelagic oceanic ecosystems and may affect large and often endangered marine life, including whales, dolphins and marine turtles.
7. STD has major operational risks which are not easily mitigated on-site, including pipe breakages (surface and/or depth) and compliance to waste controls.
8. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) of mining operations with STD as their main mechanism for waste management do not adequately assess any adverse effects in the deep sea and marine food web, and such potential impacts should be included in the scope, and terms of reference, for such studies.

Inclusion of these concerns 1-8 in EIA terms of reference in all coastal mining activities in SE Asia is necessary because:

• Submarine Tailing Disposal (STD) is currently the preferred waste disposal procedure of most large-scale mining operations in a critical region of maximum marine bio-diversity and of global marine conservation significance: SE Asia and the South Pacific.
• Its effects (if any) on tropical marine life, marine resource use and ecosystem function are not well understood.
• There will be a significant increase in the use of STD for already approved and proposed large-scale mining operations in SE Asia and South Pacific in the next 10 years, while the practice is banned in most western coastal states.
• There is an urgent need to address the major gap in biological data on (possible) effects of STD on tropical marine ecosystems, and the Indo-Pacific deep-sea in particular.

B. Relevance to coastal mining in North Sulawesi.

This public document is highly relevant to the coastal mining situation in N Sulawesi. For this area in particular we do have important data on cetaceans (see below references). We know the tip of N Sulawesi (and extending towards Siao Isl along the Sangihe Talaud Islands) is

1. a preferred local habitat for N Sulawesi sperm whales, as well as other whale and dolphin species.
2. a regional migratory corridor site which links the western Pacific with the east Indonesian Seas.
3. of importance to a myriad other large marine life.
4. the extreme depth gradients in the region means that these largely oceanic mammals do venture close to shore and are affected by coastal activities. In addition, sperm whales and other oceanic odontocetes (toothed whales) in N Sulawesi are a) deep divers b) apex predators and c) long-lived, which increases the potential risk of toxic exposure to these animals from any submarine tailing disposal in the deep sea. Note this is a concern that has to be further evaluated.

C. Recent industry-based policies against using STD as a waste management option.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning that in 2004 BHP Billiton, the largest miner in the world, adopted a company policy which specifically advises against the use of Submarine Tailings Disposal as a waste management option in all their projects, throughout the world. The formal statement declares that: "BHP Billiton has decided not to pursue Deep Sea Tailing Placement (DSTP) as a potential tailing disposal option for any of its current prospects. The Company also believes that given the very specific circumstances where DSTP could be considered appropriate, it is unlikely that the technology will be pursued in any of our future developments".

Additional sources on the Extractive Industries Review and policy recommendations can be found on www.eireview.org and www.worldbank.org/ogmc/

I trust this letter will be of assistance to all stakeholders - governments, extractive industries, NGOs, academia and local communities alike - in coastal mining projects for which STD is either operational or being considered, in Indonesia and the throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Regards,

Benjamin Kahn
Director
APEX Environmental
Asia-Pacific Oceanic Cetacean Program
IUCN Species Survival Commission - Cetacean Specialist Group
bkahn@apex-environmental.com

References: 
Kahn, B. 2003a. Potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of Submarine Tailing Disposal (STD) in regions of intense marine resource use and exceptional coastal and oceanic marine bio-diversity. Expert Testimonial Paper presented to the World Bank - Asia Pacific Extractive Industries Review (EIR) Consultation. 26 - 30 April 2003, Bali, Indonesia.

This testimonial presentation was partly based on two Statements of Concern on Submarine Tailing Disposal initially released in 1999 ("STD and Cetaceans" by Benjamin Kahn and "STD and Cephalopods" by Mark Norman, an expert on deep-sea cephalopods, such as squid and octopus, in the Indo-Pacific). The statements have been used for ministerial briefings and are available as PDF files from www.apex-environmental.com/IOCPImpacts.html).

Kahn, B. and J. Pet. 2003b. Long-term visual and acoustic cetacean surveys in Komodo National Park, Indonesia 1999-2001: Management implications for large migratory marine life. In:Proceedings and publications of the World Congress on Aquatic Protected Areas 2002. Australian Society for Fish Biology. 625-637p.

Kahn, B. 2002. Indonesia's migratory corridors for large marine life: Scientific and management perspectives. In: Proceedings of the 1st Regional Session of the Global Biodiversity Forum for the Pacific (GBF): ?Global Forces and their Impacts on the Pacific?s Biodiversity: Towards Local and Regional Response Strategies. Rarotonga, Cook Islands July 5-8, July 2002.

Kahn, B., James-Kahn, Y. and J. Pet. 2000. Komodo National Park cetacean surveys - A rapid ecological assessment of cetacean diversity, distribution and abundance. Indonesian Journal of Coastal and Marine Resources 3(2). 41-59.

Kahn, B. 1999. Oceanic cetacean surveys and sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) ecology research of Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. In: Proceedings of the 13th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Hawaii Nov.28 - Dec. 3 1999. p92.