[BougI-xL] Bougainville landowners sue Rio Tinto in US court
Norbert BRAumann
Bougainville landowners sue Rio Tinto in US court
Damages sought for Panguna pollution
By SINCLAIRE SOLOMON BOUGAINVILLE landowners yesterday filed a
class-action lawsuit in the United States against Rio Tinto, one
of the world's largest mining companies which owns the closed
Bougainville Copper Limited's Panguna copper mine.
In an unprecedented move and using a US federal law which allows
such civil actions, the landowners are seeking damages for massive
environmental destruction, human rights violation and for discrimination
against Bougainvilleans.
They have engaged Steve Berman, a high-profile litigation lawyer
who is well known for successfully representing Washington State
and 12 other US states in lawsuits against the tobacco industry in
the US several years ago. Mr Berman, of Seattle law firm Hagens-Berman,
filed the lawsuit in the US district court in San Francisco yesterday.
The suit claimed the London-based Rio Tinto engaged in a joint
venture with the PNG Government to maintain a copper mine on the
island, which resulted in international environmental violations
and crimes against humanity stemming from the PNG Defence Force
military blockade motivated by civilian resistance to the mine.
Mr Berman said that the Rio Tinto lawsuit could have broad implications
for other groups seeking redress from crimes committed during
wartime by private companies.
The lawsuit seeks to represent Bougainvilleans who continue to be
exposed to toxins resulting from the Panguna mine, individuals who
lost property due to ongoing environmental contamination, and people
injured or killed during the Bougainville conflict between 1989
and 1999.
Under the Alien Tort Claims Act, foreign nationals can bring suit
in the United States against companies that violate international
law.
Rio Tinto is the parent company of subsidiary US Borax Inc,
headquartered in Los Angeles.
According to the suit, Rio Tinto destroyed entire villages, razed
the rain forest, sluiced off a hillside and established Panguna,
the world's largest open-cut mine, two kilometres across and half
a kilometre deep.
The mine excavated 300,000 tons of ore and water every day during
its operation between 1972 and 1988.
The suit alleges that Rio Tinto laid the groundwork for environmental
disaster by improperly dumping waste rock and tailings and emitting
chemical and air pollutants without regard for the villagers.
The tailings turned the fertile Jaba and Kawerong river valleys
into wasteland, according to the suit.
Fish and whole forests died and water became non-potable, turning
30km of the river system into a moonscape, the lawsuit claims.
As tailings made their way down the Jaba River to drain into Empress
Augusta Bay, the Bougainvilleans' major food source of fish was
also destroyed in the bay, it claimed.
According to the suit, Rio Tinto's mine operators also dumped
chemicals directly into the Kawerong River, leaving river alkaline
and copper green. The mine also emitted dust clouds that created
upper respiratory infections and asthma in villagers.
The suit charges that environmental damage destroyed the villagers'
food production and cash cropping systems. The Bougainville people
began dying more frequently from upper respiratory infections,
asthma and tuberculosis, coughs, colds and chronic ear infections
became more common in children.
Said Mr Berman: "Rio Tinto used their huge economic influence to
effectively turn the PNG army into their private police force in
the attempt to break the will and spirit of the Bougainvilleans.
"They didn't, and the villagers want justice for the horrible pain
and suffering they were forced to endure."
PNG's blockade of Bougainville cut off medical supplies to pressure
the people to submit to PNG control and reopen the mine, the suit
claims.
The siege resulted in deaths from preventable diseases such as TB
and whooping cough of more than 2,000 children in the first two
years.
Between 1990 and 1997, about 10,000 Bougainvilleans died as a result
of the siege, the suit said.
"Rio Tinto treated Bougainvilleans with no respect and thought of
them as inferior in every way: Socially, economically, racially
and politically. This lack of basic human compassion is one of the
many reasons that Bougainvilleans are demanding justice," Mr Berman
said.
The suit also claims that about 15,000 civilians died as a result
of armed acts by the PNG Defence Force. The military actions included
aerial bombings, burning of houses and villages, wanton killing
and acts of cruelty, rape and degrading treatment.
"By exerting financial pressure, Rio Tinto played an active role
in the demise of the Bougainville environment and people, as surely
as if they'd pulled the trigger themselves," said Paul Luvera,
co-counsel for the plaintiffs.
"This case seeks justice for those who are still struggling to
recover a life for themselves on their own land."
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20000908/news06.htm
Weekend Edition Fri-Sun 08th-10th September, 2000
Bougainvilleans lodge US suit against miner
TWENTY Bougainvilleans filed a class action yesterday in San
Francisco against Rio Tinto plc, claiming billions of dollars
compensation for massive environmental destruction wreaked by
Bougainville copper mine and for assisting the Papua New Guinea
Governments military campaign there.
The case, on behalf of members of the Panguna Landowners Association,
is led on a contingency fee basis by one of the United States most
prominent class action lawyers, Steve Berman.
He represented 13 US States in the Liggett Tobacco case against
the tobacco industry earning his firm almost $90 million. Mr Berman
also represented Microsoft against 50 class actions.
I always like to work for the underdog, he said.
Mr Berman is assisted by Melbourne-based Slater & Gordon, the law
firm that acted for landowners against BHP Ltd over environmental
damage from the Ok Tedi copper mine.
The firm was recently criticised by Solomon Islands appeal court,
chaired by former Australian Chief Justice Sir Anthony Mason, as
cavalier and irresponsible in its conduct of a case involving a
gold mine operated by Sydney-based Delta Gold.
The Bougainville case is being launched as leaders from the island
and from the PNG Government the latter led by Sir Michael Somare
met in in Rabaul to meet a deadline to agree on a future form of
government for the island.
A spokesman for Rio Tinto and its 53 per cent-owned Bougainville
Copper Ltd said yesterday: We categorically reject these allegations.
Peter Taylor, managing director of BCL also 19 per cent owned by
the PNG Government, the rest by shareholders in PNG and Australia
said:
Its not in the interests of anyone involved in the peace process
for this to happen, especially not in a foreign court . . . with
foreign lawyers whose only interest I can see is a contingency fee.
Mr Berman, who is based in Seattle, said the action would seek
compensation for anyone on Bougainville who had suffered as a result
either of environmental degradation caused by the mine, which
operated from 1972-89, or of the 11 years civil war that ended in
a ceasefire last year.
The suit claims that the mine laid the groundwork for environmental
disaster by improperly dumping waste rock and tailings and emitting
chemical and air pollutants without regard for the villagers.
It says the Bougainvilleans main source of fish, Empress Augusta
Bay, was destroyed and whole forests died.
It also claims Rio Tinto assisted PNGs military actions that were
designed to stop the rebels who forced the mines closure including
providing helicopters for troop transport.
The suit alleges that approximately 15,000 Bougainvilleans died as
a result of armed acts by PNG troops including wanton killing and
acts of cruelty.
Mr Berman said the Government was not joined in the action because
if we needed to have a resolution some day, down the road, it would
probably be better to work with the Government than to make it an
enemy.
Mr Taylor said that the mine had not owned a helicopter, only hiring
one for environmental surveys.
The Australian Government provided PNG with Iroquois helicopters
early in the Bougainville conflict.
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20000908/news07.htm
Weekend Edition Fri-Sun 08th-10th September, 2000
Rio Tinto denies rights abuses
MELBOURNE: Global miner Rio Tinto has strenuously denied claims
its Bougainville copper mine in Papua New Guinea contributed to
human rights abuses and environmental destruction on the island.
The mining giant faces legal action in the United States after a
group of Papua New Guinea landowners filed a law suit claiming the
Bougainville mine caused environmental destruction and crimes
against humanity.
The lawsuit was filed in the San Francisco District Court yesterday.
Rio Tinto holds a 53.6 per cent stake in the mine, while the PNG
Government has a 27.3 per cent holding, with public shareholders
owning the balance.
Bougainville Copper and Rio Tinto categorically reject the allegations
of human rights abuse and environmental damage, a Rio Tinto spokesman
said yesterday.
All of Bougainville Coppers operation were conducted under an
agreement ratified by the PNG Government and met those obligations.
US lawyer Steve Berman is leading the action, which claims the
company engaged in a joint venture with the PNG Government to
maintain a copper mine on the island. This in turn resulted in
international environmental violations and crimes against humanity
stemming from a military blockade motivated by civilian resistance
to the mine, it claims.
The action appears to be filed against London-based Rio Tinto plc
rather than the Australian-listed Rio Tinto plc using the Alien
Tort Claims Act. It relates to a period from 1989 to 1999, however,
mining activity ceased in 1989 as a result of secessionist activities
on the island.
The suit seeks to represent Bougainvilleans who continue to be
exposed to toxins resulting from the Panguna mine, individuals who
lost property due to ongoing environmental contamination, and people
injured or killed during the Bougainville conflict.
-- Copyright, 1999, Post-Courier Online. Use of this site is governed
by by our Legal Notice.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/419p20.htm
[ Green Left Weekly, Issue #419, September 6, 2000 ]
Rio Tinto: founded on blood
BY SUE BOLAND
[Picture] Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto, the world's largest
mining company, has more than 60 operations in 40 countries.
Antarctica is the only continent that has escaped its ravages.
In every continent where Rio Tinto operates the story is the same:
land taken from indigenous people without compensation; workers
prevented from freely organising in trade unions; destruction of
the environment; and cosy relations with politicians, government
officials and dictators.
In 1999, Rio Tinto's turnover was US$9.31 billion (A$14.42 billion)
and its after-tax profit was US$1.28 billion (A$1.99 billion). It
mines a diverse range of minerals and metals including coal, copper,
gold, uranium and iron ore.
It controls 55% of the world production of borate, 15% of industrial
diamonds and around 8% of uranium.
The company was founded on blood. English capitalists formed the
company in 1873 to mine the Rio Tinto copper deposit in Spain.
During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, when Germany's Adolf Hitler
and Italy's Benito Mussolini were in an alliance with Spain's
General Franco, Rio Tinto's chief Sir Auckland Geddes told the
company's 1937 annual general meeting in London: Since the mining
region was occupied by General Franco's forces, there have been no
further labour problems ... Miners found guilty of troublemaking
are court-martialled and shot.
This became the model for Rio Tinto's later cosy relationships with
South Africa's racist apartheid regime, Chile's dictator General
Pinochet and Indonesia's murderous dictator Suharto.
In 1995, Rio Tinto-Zinc (RTZ) merged with its subsidiary Conzinc
Riotinto of Australia (CRA), which was 40% owned by Australian
capitalists, to form RTZ-CRA. It changed its name to Rio Tinto in
1997. Now it is in the process of buying out North Limited, the
parent company of Energy Resources Australia which owns the Jabiluka
uranium mine in the Northern Territory.
Rio Tinto has an appalling record in its relations with indigenous
peoples. Some examples are:
* Rio Tinto led the mining industry campaign against native title
in Australia in 1997-8;
* to build the Weipa bauxite mine in north Queensland, Comalco
(then a subsidiary of CRA), forcibly removed two Aboriginal
communities, at Weipa and Mapoon;
* Aboriginal sacred sites were almost completely destroyed during
construction of the Argyle diamond mines in Western Australia;
* Indonesia's armed forces (TNI) have killed and tortured indigenous
land owners protesting against the Grasberg mine in West Papua.
The mine is primarily owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan, but Rio
Tinto has a 12% share in the company and a 40% interest in the mine
expansion. Freeport-McMoran provides Indonesian soldiers with
transport, food and accommodation; and
* the establishment of Rio Tinto mines in Bougainville, Indonesia
and the Philippines has resulted in large numbers of indigenous
people being thrown off their land with little or no compensation
and appalling environmental consequences.
Union busting
Over the last 15 years, Rio Tinto has waged a vendetta against
trade unions. In Australia, the company has de-unionised most of
its metalliferous mining and smelting operations. Its main tactic
has been to frustrate the collective bargaining process then offer
individual contracts to workers desperate for a pay rise.
Rio Tinto is now focussing its Australian anti-union campaign on
its coalmines. In six years, Rio Tinto has reduced its coal operations
work force by 28% and cut real wages by 20%.
In Zimbabwe, Rio Tinto has tried to bypass the Associated Mineworkers
of Zimbabwe by setting up a company sponsored by a committee of
workers.
In South Africa, the National Union of Mineworkers is disputing
Rio Tinto's practice of sacking workers and then employing contract
workers to do the same work at a lower pay rate. Rio Tinto profited
greatly from collaborating with the apartheid regime. It developed
the Palabora copper and uranium deposit in the Transvaal while the
apartheid regime was savagely repressing the black majority.
While the South African armed forces were illegally occupying
Namibia in the 1970s, Rio Tinto violated United Nations sanctions
by establishing its Rossing mine there and illegally selling the
uranium it produced.
Rio Tinto still discriminates against black workers. In South Africa
the company forces them to live in old housing compounds away from
their families. At its Rossing mine, Rio Tinto maintains racial
segregation in company housing. Black employees are paid rock-bottom
wages while their white counterparts are paid above the maximum of
the common scale, in what is called an inducement band. In 1998,
Rio Tinto suddenly pulled out of negotiations with the Mineworkers
Union of Namibia over ending racial discrimination on the job.
Environmental devastation
Typical of Rio Tinto mining operations is the Kelian goldmine in
East Kalimantan, Indonesia, which has poisoned the nearby river so
that it can no longer be used for drinking and bathing.
The expansion of the Grasberg mine in West Papua will result in
285,000 tonnes of tailings contaminated with toxic heavy metals
being dumped into the Ajikwa river system every day.
This is equivalent to a 10-tonne truck dumping its load every 10
seconds.
When the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville was operating, it
dumped 1 billion tonnes of waste into the river system, killing
all aquatic life and creating a 480-square-kilometre blot on the
environment.
This destructive practice helped make Bougainville Copper Ltd CRA's
most profitable single venture in 1973 with an annual profit of
A$158 million. By the early 1980s, BCL was contributing a hefty
23% of RTZ's pre-tax profits, despite representing only 9.4% of
the corporation's total assets and 8% of its sales.
Rio Tinto's destructive practices around the world have led to
opposition from workers, indigenous land owners, local communities
and environmentalists. Rio Tinto has developed a strategy for
dealing with community opposition.
Rio Tinto's subsidiaries usually have names that are quite different
to that of the parent company, allowing it to hide its role in
destructive mining developments.
In dealing with indigenous peoples' opposition, Rio Tinto usually
begins negotiations with several indigenous groups.
Once it establishes which group can be bought off, it ceases
negotiations with all the others and claims that it has indigenous
support for its project.
When faced with community opposition, Rio Tinto sometimes sets up
its own community groups that support its mining projects.
Cosy relationships
Rio Tinto likes to write the rules by which it operates. The March
2000 edition of Mining Monitor, published by the Minerals Policy
Institute, reported that Rio Tinto has established a joint project
with Australian Legal Resources International, a human rights group
affiliated to the Australian Council for Overseas Aid. Part of the
project will involve drafting of environmental law, human rights
law, constitutional law, bankruptcy and corporate law for Indonesia.
Rio Tinto typically gets substantial assistance from governments
around the world. For example, in Bougainville it won a five-year
tax holiday. At Weipa, it paid a token A$4 per square mile in rent
for the land. Its Tiwai Point smelter in New Zealand was sold
electricity at rates 13 times cheaper than household consumers pay.
------------------------------------------------------------
--
/~\ /\ /\ /\ Ciao... )|( Cheers!
/ . \ / / ____ / /_ / /_ __ __ °(o o)°
/ / \ \/ / / __ \ / __ \ / __ \ / /_/ / .-----ooO-(_)-Ooo-----.
\/ \__/ \____/ \____/ \____/ `--- / | N.BRA...@tu-bs.de |
\_____________________________________/_/ `-------.oooO---------'
( ) Oooo.
++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++ \ ( ( )
++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++ \_) ) /
++++ http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++ (_/