Mining

“The Buyat controversy has taken away precious three and half years out of my family’s life, but we still feel that justice delayed is still justice.”

Eric Ness was writing about yet another court ruling vindicating his father, Richard Ness, and American gold mining giant Newmont of any wrong doing at his blog www.richardness.org.

Eric wrote, “This verdict resonates perfectly with the ruling in the criminal case by the Manado High Court, thereby reaffirming once again that Buyat Bay is clean.

“While the latest verdict brings one more chapter of the Buyat Bay hoax to an end, it should mark the beginning of serious soul-searching for WALHI [the Indonesian affiliate of Friends of the Earth]. Most importantly, it raises questions about Chalid Mohammed and his leadership of WALHI.

“By now it is commonly known that Newmont followed all the regulations and there are irrefutable scientific facts that show that Buyat Bay is clean. Prominent evidence that supported these conclusions included Government of Indonesia’s own reports and testimonies as well as the findings of researchers from the World Health Organization, CSIRO-Australia and other academicians from Indonesia’s universities.

“So it was not very surprising when Judge I Ketut Manika stated in court, “The plaintiff could not prove its accusations that there was environmental pollution caused by PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in Buyat Bay”.

Read more here:
http://richardness.org/blog/walhilosescivilcaseagainstnewmont.php

Also in late December 2007 Richard Ness retired from Newmont.

Earlier this month, Eric sent out an email, explaining that “with my Dads retirement from Newmont and the case is essentially done, I am looking to conclude updating richardness.org. I am writing a paper to gain additional insight in to how effective the web site was in getting my family’s message out, how blogs work and their network effect. I’m also very interested in how many in the press actually used the site.

I have set up a quick poll with only four questions in it and if you could take a minute to fill out the survey that would greatly be appreciated. It is completely anonymous and I would be willing to share the details of the results if anyone is interested.

Take the survey:
http://www.richardness.org/link.php?link=11&id=69

Read more about Buyat Bay here: http://www.buyatbayfacts.com/

Read many of my blog posts here: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/cat_mining.html

I first started writing about the saga in November 2005, read my first blog post here: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/001007.html

I visted Indonesia to hear the verdict in the criminal trial in April 2007

Jen snorkling at Buyat Bay, April 2007

The Indonesian government has since refused to give me a visa to visit Indonesia to continue research for my book about the saga. I had hoped to visit in June 2007, then November 2007 and I have now given up trying and recently asked for my passport back from the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra.

But I will nevertheless complete my book and use http:www.richardness.org as a handy link to so much information including the english transcript of the final verdict in the criminal trial, click here: http://www.richardness.org/media/Verdict_Transcript%20of%20Hearing%2024%20April%202007.pdf

So, thanks so much Eric Ness!

The mining thread at this blog has been dominated by the Buyat Bay saga; the alleged deliberate pollution of the bay, fishing village and its fringing coral reef in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, by US mining giant Newmont and in particular its Indonesian boss Richard Ness.

I attended the verdict in the criminal trial of Mr Ness earlier this year. He was acquitted of all charges.

National environment group WALHI brought a civil suit against Newmont about a month before that verdict was due to be handed down. On Tuesday December 18, 2007 the South Jakarta District Court of Indonesia cleared Newmont of any environmental wrongdoing at Buyat Bay, dismissing the civil suit. A spokesperson for Newmont commented that, “We hope this second exoneration by yet another Indonesian court will put to rest – once and for all – the hoax that Buyat Bay is polluted.”

An opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal included comment that, “Accusations against business folks these days get a lot more publicity than acquittals do, so we thought we’d let you know about a victory for a U.S. mining company facing bogus charges that it was responsible for killing poor villagers in Indonesia. The case was promoted by environmentalists and hyped with a 2,600-word page-one article in the New York Times in 2004.”

The same week Newmont was cleared in Jakarta, Rick Ness announced his retirement. My best wishes to Rick and Nova for life after Newmont.

You can read more about the Buyat Bay Saga at his son Eric’s website: http://www.richardness.org.

“An Indonesian court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by a mining executive against the New York Times over reports the firm dumped toxic waste into an Indonesian bay, lawyers said Thursday.

Richard Ness, an executive with US mining giant Newmont, sued the newspaper and one of its reporters for more than 64 million dollars for defamation over articles published in 2004.

The stories alleged Newmont polluted the bay with tonnes of waste from its now-defunct gold mine on the island of Sulawesi.

A three-judge panel said the Central Jakarta state court “does not have the authority to hear and judge this case,” according to Gani Djemat and Partners, the law firm representing the defendants…

The defence argued that the journalist was not an Indonesian national or a resident here, that The New York Times did not have a representative office in Indonesia and that it did not commit the alleged defamation in the country.

Read more here: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5imv8JHIGm6TK1Ky9bZZM-wI8nQXQ

There is a lot about the alleged pollution of Buyat Bay in the archives of this blog, click here and scroll down: https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/archives/cat_mining.html

Earlier this week the Australian chapter of ‘Friends of the Earth’ posted a statement on their website in response to comments made by Australian Senator Ian Macdonald.

The press release stated:

National environmental organisation, Friends of the Earth (FoE) Australia, has responded angrily to a statement made in the Senate by Ian Macdonald implying that its sister organisation, WALHI/ Friends of the Earth Indonesia is linked to terrorists.

“Today’s statement by Senator Macdonald is scandalously and recklessly incorrect” said Cam Walker, FoE Australia.

Senator Ian Macdonald earlier that day on the Senate floor stated the following:

Interestingly, WALHI appears to have now been joined by radical Islamic groups in its campaign against the US mining giant, Newmont. A photograph— which I could perhaps table if the Senate were interested—recently featured in the Indonesian press shows Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, flanked by Muhammad Al Khaththah, the leader of the Indonesian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir, attacking Newmont’s environmental record.

I also note an article from the Straits Times of 22 April 2006 which states:

The head of Walhi [Chalid Muhammad], the main environmental group, is also a member of Hizbut Tahrir, a hardline Muslim group which emerged over the past year, and which has been famously described as being a ‘conveyor belt for terrorists’. Although the group claims to be non-violent, the Walhi chairman took part in recent violent demonstrations outside the US embassy, wearing full Islamic robes.

Please read the rest of the blog post by Eric Ness here which includes a letter from Richard Ness to Friends of the Earth:

http://www.richardness.org/link.php?link=9&id=69