The Guardian 13 December, 2006
West Papua: Study of
Freeport environmental policies
A Reuters News Service report recently revealed that the New York City Comptroller who oversees the city’s pension funds has called for a review of the environmental policies and practices of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc in West Papua.
The New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan company, one of the world’s largest gold and copper producers, derives most of its income from its Grasberg mine in Indonesian occupied West Papua, the world’s largest copper and gold mine by reserves.
The comptroller cited reports that Freeport-McMoRan dumps nearly 230,000 tonnes of waste a day, including toxic metals, into the local river system. Meanwhile Indonesia’s Minister of the Environment last March accused the miner of violating water quality regulations.
This year a landslide near the Grasberg mine killed three people and injured dozens more.
"Freeport McMoRan’s poor environmental record needs to be examined", said William Thompson the NYC Comptroller. "The least the company can do is ensure that it is not causing environmental damage to the rivers and in any way harming the people of Indonesia."
Review environmental policies
City pension funds for teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees, which combined hold 544,458 Freeport shares worth about US$33.6 million, want shareholders at next year’s annual meeting to push Freeport to review its environmental practices in Indonesia. Thompson called for a report to shareholders from that study by next September.
A Freeport official declined immediate comment.
Thompson earlier this year asked the US Justice Department to investigate if Freeport payments to Indonesian military forces violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He also asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission to review Freeport’s 2004 and 2005 proxies to determine whether it made misleading statements about those payments.
Last month Freeport agreed to acquire the much larger Phelps Dodge Corp, a major copper producer, for US$25.9 billion. Phelps Dodge is also buying into what is described as "one of the largest, highest-grade undeveloped copper-cobalt deposits in the world today" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Freeport makes huge profits from the exploitation of West Papuan and Indonesian labour. It is this situation that the recently signed agreement between the Australian Howard Government and the Indonesian Government is designed to protect by refusing any opportunity for West Papuan citizens to escape the hell-hole created by Freeport and the Indonesian Government.