Freeport admits conduct audit unilaterally

The giant gold mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia admitted on Wednesday that it conducted its environmental audit and published the result in the mass media without prior approval from the government.

Freeport Indonesia vice president for environmental affairs Bruce E. Marsh said that the company didn't ask for the permission of the government in appointing international independent environmental audit firm Montgomery Watson, which praises Freeport's environmental management system in its audit result.

"We thought that the environmental audit was voluntarily, so that there's no need to seek government approval. Does every action of the management must ask for government approval," Marsh said during an expose of the audit result.

Freeport announced the audit result in December last year through the mass media which seemed to irritate Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf.

Sonny said earlier this week that Freeport should have not announced the audit result before verifying it first with the state environmental management agency (Bapedal).

He said that if the Freeport audit result was different to that of the government findings, the government would also announce its findings.

The Freeport audit result was announced amid reports that the company's tailings had destructed the local environment. Freeport has long been blamed for lack of attention to environmental management and improving the social and economic welfare of the local people.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post quoted Marsh as saying that Freeport would welcome any government response to the publication of its audit result.

If necessary, he said, the government or Bapedal could verify the audit.

"If they want to verify the audit, if they want to investigate Freeport, if they want to send their inspectors to our site, Bapedal can do whatever they need to do to evaluate Freeport's performance."

Montgomery Watson's audit described Freeport's environmental management system as "a showcase for the mining industry," citing the company's compliance with existing environmental laws and regulations.

But separately, chairwoman of the Indonesian Environmental Forum Emmy Hafidl said that the Freeport audit result could not be fully trusted because it was conducted by an auditor appointed and paid by Freeport.

She said that a number of industrial companies, including Freeport, focused more on generating revenue than reducing the impact of their operations on environment.(*)