Executives of US-Owned Mine Arrested in Indonesia

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=DA3A96CA-9439-41E8-90D3FD75C337A69A&title=Executives%20of%20US-Owned%20Mine%20Arrested%20in%20Indonesia%20&catOID=45C9C785-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Business

Five executives working for a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation have been detained in Indonesia on charges of polluting the environment. The charges relate to allegations that a gold mine operated by the U.S.-owned company caused widespread illness by leaking mercury into the water supply.

The five men, three Indonesians, an American and an Australian, all worked for P.T. Newmont Minahasa Raya, known as N.M.R., a gold mine in the north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Local people accuse the mine of polluting the water of an ocean bay and making them sick. The company denies the allegations, saying it has had the water regularly checked for mercury contamination, and that levels are well within international standards.

<snip>

Local people accuse N.M.R of dumping mercury and arsenic contaminated waste into Buyat Bay. The company says tests carried out on its behalf by independent laboratories show no elevation in the mercury levels in the water.

...more...

American companies should be held to *our* standards when globalizing. Otherwise, they're just avoiding the protections (and laws) that centuries of experience have proven to be necessary.

If the mercury has killed any locals, the execs should be tried for murder.

Bush Rewards CEO of Killer Mine in Indonesia with Top Fed. Advisory Post
22-Jul-04
Corporate Power
In June, Bush appointed Wayne Murdy, CEO of Newmont Mining Corporation to a top level manufacturing advisory post. http://www.industryweek.com/DailyPage/newsitem.asp?id=6055 Even as Murdy was being elevated to national advisory status, his corporation's mine in Indonesia - in the same region where Henry Kissinger's environmentally nightmarish Freeport-McMohran gold mine is sites - was ravaging the Indonesian environment, dumping toxic pollution (mercury) into a bay that has killed, it is believed, at least 30 Indonesian natives. The mine has a long history of abuse: But this is JUST the sort of operation Bush and pals endorse, promote, protect and - as Murdy's appointment proves - REWARDS. http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/action57.htm