Jennifer Marohasy

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Revisiting the Overseas Press Club Award: The Campaign to Jail Richard Ness (Part 4)

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“On 24 April 2007, the Manado court [in North Sulawesi, Indonesia] handed down a decisive, unambiguous verdict clearing my Dad [Richard Ness] of all charges and declared that Buyat Bay was never polluted, the fish are safe for human consumption and the people are fine.

Now let’s rewind almost two years back to 27 April 2005. This day the Overseas Press Club (OPC) awarded New York Times reporter Jane Perlez the prestigious Whitman Bassow Award, which recognizes “Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues”.

The OPC panel of judges awarded Jane Perlez this honor because her reporting “detailed evidence in the village of Buyat Bay of skin tumors, rashes, breathing difficulties, and headaches.” But most noticeably, it is the claim that it wasn’t “until the Times series appeared [that] the Indonesian government and the mining company had turned a deaf ear to the problem” and that it was Jane Perlez’s series of articles that “forced the government to take legal action against Newmont”.

Read the rest of this blog post and watch the video of the presentation here: http://www.richardness.org/blog/revisitingtheoverseaspressclubaward.php

Budget Not Big on Climate

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Last night the Australian Treasurer, Peter Costello, handed down the budget for the nation for the next financial year (2007-08).

There were tax cuts, big increases in spending on higher education, but surprisingly little in response to all the community hysteria over climate change.

There was not a word on a possible carbon tax or emissions trading system – just an $8,000 subsidy for solar panels.

The treasurer reiterated that the government will spend $10 billion over 10 years to conserve and sustain Australia’s water supply – this money will mostly go to the Murray Darling Basin.

You can read more here: http://www.budget.gov.au/2007-08/overview/html/index.htm .

Richard Ness and Newmont Acquitted, But Indonesian Government Appeals

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I was recently in Indonesia to hear the verdict in the criminal trial of Richard Ness, an American gold miner, accused of knowingly polluting Buyat Bay, its fringing coral reefs and local villagers, with mercury and arsenic.

On the morning of the verdict, it was rumoured there would be 10,000 demonstrators, that effigies of Ness and the chief judge would be burnt, that an army platoon was on stand-by, and that the court house could be bombed.

The panel of five judges found Richard Ness not guilty on all charges. To quote from his son Eric’s blog:

“The final ruling is unambiguous because it is based primarily on substance and technical facts. When I sat in the court and listened to the ruling I noted that each of the prosecution’s evidence was rejected soundly and decisively. The Judges had applied the most objective scientific knowledge and techniques to develop their argument for each rejection of prosecution’s claim.

… It must be stated that the court’s decision was not just a simple victory where my Dad and Newmont were acquitted of any wrongdoing but the judgment had a list of more than 50 points outlining why these allegations were not only unfounded but also it categorically stated that no environmental crime was committed in Buyat by Newmont. The decision was a slam dunk in all respects yet some are still trying to spin it as a victory by technicality.”

After the reading of the verdict Richard Ness refused to be ushered out of the court room by the back door. Instead, flanked by his two sons, he descended from the court house into a throng of angry demonstrators and proudly walked up the busy boulevard.

Incredibly the Ministry of Environment is now appealling the decision.

A problem for the Indonesian government is that environmental activists, working with their friends in the local and international media, ran a convincing campaign. There had already been a successful trial by media with Ness portrayed as guilty.

Newmont has just issued a press release:

“JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 7, 2007 – An Indonesian court ruled on 24 April 2007 that PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (PTNMR), a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation, and its President Director Richard Ness are acquitted of all criminal charges of pollution and regulatory violations.

Ruling on evidence presented during the 21-month trial, one of the longest criminal proceedings in Indonesian history, the court held that Buyat Bay is not polluted. It further found, as PTNMR contended, that the company was in compliance with all regulations and permits during its eight years of operations from 1996 to 2004. However, the prosecutions filed an appeal in Manado Court today (7 May 2007).

Luhut MP. Pangaribuan, PTNMR legal team: “Considering that the Defendants have been acquitted of all Public Prosecutors’ indictments, then according to Article 67 and Article 244 from the Law on Criminal Procedure, an appeal is not permissible if there is a complete acquittal. Therefore, I hope that this appeal will be immediately rejected as not in accordance with the law”.

The exact wordings in the Law on Criminal Procedure are as follows:

Article 67: A defendant or public prosecutor shall have the right to appeal against a decision of a court of first instance except against a decision of acquittal, a dismissal of all charges related to a matter of inappropriate application of law and a court decision under express proceeding.

Article 244: The defendant or the public prosecutor may file a request for an examination of an appeal to the Supreme Court against a decision on a criminal case rendered at the final instance by a court other than the Supreme Court, except with regard to an acquittal.

“It seems that the Government wants to take us back to court one more time, even though the court ruled that the bay is not polluted and the case should have not have been in criminal court to start with. To my understanding, to appeal on a full acquittal is not only against the law; it sends the signal that the Government does not believe their own courts decision. To say I am disappointed with the Government’s decision is an understatement”, said Richard Ness.

The other reason that the appeal is not necessary is that the Government of Indonesia and PTNMR have established the independent scientific panel under the Goodwill Agreement that will monitor and report on Buyat Bay for almost another decade. Newmont Vice President of Asia Operations, Robert Gallagher, “We are confident that it will confirm that there is no pollution in Buyat Bay. If anyone has any residual concern in regard to the condition of Buyat Bay, let that concern be addressed by pure science”.

More information about the case can be found at www.BuyatBayFacts.com along with a chronology of events at http://www.buyatbayfacts.com/what_happened/timeline.aspx.

End of press release from Newmont.

I am writing a book on the saga.

On Quoting the Environmental Movement: John Berlau Responds to Tim Lambert

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“I have recently been informed that a couple weeks ago I had the distinct honor of being ‘Lamberted.’ That is, I was the object of a tirade by Australian blogger Tim Lambert, a computer science professor who fancies himself an expert on everything from DDT to climate change.

Lambert is one of the “DDT deniers” I reference in my book Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism Is Hazaardous to Your Health. Following the lead of his idol, Silent Spring author Rachel Carson, Lambert continues to promote the untruth that third-world countries ceased using DDT because the insecticide became ineffective due to mosquito resistance. Eco-Freaks explains the concept of resistance and details Carson and Lambert’s misunderstanding and/or misrepresentatons of these facts. (Tim, to use an analogy from your field of computer science, you wouldn’t forgo the best antivirus software simply because a hacker could develop a new super-virus that could get around it.)

Before I get to the “meat” of Lambert’s criticism (and, when you cut through all the rhetorical “fat,” it’s an awfully slim bone), let me again repeat that is indeed an honor to become the target of his attacks. This is because it puts me in such distinguished company. Several of my colleagues, such as Iain Murray, have had the pleasure of being “Lamberted.” I also join New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and editorial writer Tina Rosenberg, courageous liberals who deviated from the anti-DDT eco-orthodoxy, as one of the objects of Lambert’s venom. He is also none-too-happy that the World Health Organization, taking its cue from malariologists rather than crank computer scientists, recently reversed its long-held postition and now recommends DDT spraying “in areas with constant and high malaria transmission.”

What is it that has raised Lambert’s ire about yours truly? Lambert’s attack on me happened after Instapundit’s eminent blogger Glenn Reynolds linked to commented on my OpenMarket blog entry “The Don Imuses of Envrionmentalism,” about racist and outrageous quotes from prominent environmentalists. Lambert accused me of being a “quote doctor.” Yet a review of Lambert’s “refutations” shows it is Lambert who is attempting to perform the emergency “triage” surgery — to fix quotes embarrassing to the environmental movement…

Read the complete blog post here: http://www.openmarket.org/2007/05/04/the-honor-of-being-lamberted/#more-1411

Mitigation of Climate Change: UN Summary Released

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A summary of ‘Mitigation of Climate Change’ — the much awaited third report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — was issued last night.

According to Michael Casy writing for The Guardian:

International delegates reached an agreement early Friday on the best ways to combat climate change despite efforts by China to water down language on cutting destructive greenhouse gas emissions.

The closed-door debate over everything from nuclear power to the cost of cleaner energy ran into the early morning hours with quibbling over wording. But consensus was eventually reached on a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and delegates from more than 120 nations.

“It’s all done,” said Peter Lukey, a member of the South Africa delegation. “Everything we wanted to see was there and more. The message is: We have to do something now.”

Read the complete article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6606763,00.html

Download the IPCC report here: http://www.ipcc.ch/

A Plankton-based Carbon Offset

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I’m not sure that dumping tons of iron powder in the ocean is going to stop ‘climate change’, but I am hopeful it can reduce atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide:

“The first commercial venture into growing vast plankton blooms big enough to suck carbon from the atmosphere starts this month.

Tons of powdered iron will be poured into the Pacific to induce the growth of blooms big enough to be seen from space. The scheme’s backers believe that the iron seeding technique could radically reduce the carbon in the atmosphere and will open up a multimillion-pound carbon-offsetting industry. Simultaneously, they hope to reverse the decline in plankton levels, which are estimated to have fallen by at least 9 per cent in the past two decades.

Iron seeding is thought to work because it provides a crucial nutrient for plankton growth that is missing or in short supply in up to 70 per cent of the world’s oceans.

As the phytoplankton multiplies it will absorb large quantities of carbon and, if the trials are a success, much of it will sink to the seabed when the microscopic plants die and sink…

Read the complete article here: http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1739124.ece .