In the ongoing struggle of Marinduquenos against the Canadian mining giant Placer Dome Inc. this has been a particularly turbulent year. Since 1969 Placer Dome has co-owned (40%) and managed two mine sites on the island of Marinduque for the Marcopper Mining Corporation. As readers may remember, in March of 1996 a badly sealed tunnel burst allowing more than 3 million tons of mine waste to spew into the 26-kilometer long Boac River.
The tailings smothered all life in the river and covered corals and seagrasses along the coastal mouth of the river. The United Nations team called in to investigate concluded that if proper risk assessments had been done on the tailings impoundment, “It is possible...the present environmental disaster would not have occurred” (U.N. 1996:68). The U.N. team noted, “it is evident that environmental management was not a high priority for Marcopper” (idem:69).
Under tremendous governmental and public pressure Placer Dome agreed to clear the river of tailings while continuing to deny any responsibility for the tailings spill. Today, more than three years after the spill most of the tailings have been “cleared” simply by allowing them to flow into the sea. Sulfides in the tailings that are still along the river banks started to oxidize as early as February of 1997 posing a serious threat of toxic acid drainage and heavy metal leaching. About a quarter of the spilled tailings remain under water in a catchment area at the coastal mouth of the river.
These tailings are now at the center of a major controversy. Placer Dome has now twice applied to the DENR to pump the Boac River tailings into the sea through a submerged pipe. This technology is known as Submarine Tailings Disposal (STD). This procedure has been unacceptable under the environmental regulations of Placer Dome’s home country, Canada, since 1977. It also contravenes the United States Clean Water Act. The technology saves the industry the otherwise high expense of proper waste management by externalizing this cost onto the sea environment. The people of Marinduque, including the mayor of Boac, the island’s Congressman Edmundo Reyes and numerous members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan have repeatedly voiced their vehement opposition to STD. The DENR has twice turned down Placer Dome’s request for a permit.
In 1997, Placer Dome applied for a permit from the DENR to dispose of the tailings in the Boac river via Submarine Tailings Disposal. The company’s first application was turned down on October 30, 1997 by then-DENR Secretary Victor Ramos, who noted that under Philippine laws and regulations, offshore areas “are considered to be Environmentally Critical Areas.”
Mayor Madla wrote DENR-chief Ramos, “on behalf of the people of Boac we are extending our sincerest gratitude for heeding our call to save Tablas Strait by not allowing [the company] to dump their contaminated mine tailings into the said Strait.” Placer Dome appealed this ruling and on March 23, 1998 the DENR allowed the company to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as long as a “major part” of the study focussed on “alternative land-based disposal options.”
On February 16, 1999, Placer Dome’s second request for a permit was turned down on the basis of “social unacceptability.” Nonetheless the company persists in seeking a permit. At a Congressional Inquiry on May 25, 1999 islanders reported that Placer Dome officials are actively canvassing citizens of Boac offering livelihood programs and other “incentives” in exchange for signatures supporting ocean dumping.
It is important to realize that the struggle of Marinduquenos to stop STD and to protect the sea off the Boac coast from contamination has much wider implications. First of all, the now closed mine could only reopen if future tailings could be dumped off the Marinduque coast. Marinduquenos have made it very clear that they oppose the reopening of the mine. But the issue goes even further than that. The mining industry in the Philippines is closely watching events in Marinduque and exerting considerable pressure on the DENR to approve STD in Marinduque so that it can be applied throughout the Philippines.
Both the Australian Western Mining Corp. and the Canadian owned Mindex in Mindoro have indicated their intention to dispose of tailings through ocean dumping. Another major controversy that arose this year has been over the ownership of the assets of the mine - including the mineral rights and all the mine equipment.
While Placer Dome insists it divested from Marcopper in 1997, court documents that surfaced late in 1998 indicate that the mine’s assets are in fact now owned by a Cayman Island holding company known as MR Holdings. Placer Dome set up MR Holdings as an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary in 1997. While Placer Dome insists it divested from MR Holdings shortly after setting the company up, lawyers for MR Holdings continued to identify Placer Dome as the holding company’s owner as recently as January of 1999.
In the light of all these controversies, Marinduque’s new congressman, Edmundo Reyes, read a position paper in congress on March 18, 1999 in which he stated “Placer Dome has not done what it proudly promised to do, but has shown incontrovertibly that it wants to walk away as fast and as cheap as possible.”
This position paper led to an ongoing congressional inquiry that started on May 25, 1999. The inquiry is meant to shed light not only on the issue of STD and the mysterious ownership of the mine’s assets but also to highlight the grievous and longstanding problems at Calancan Bay and at the Mogpog River where uncontained mine waste has also led to severe soil, water, air and human contamination.
At the time of writing children from Calancan Bay who have been discovered to have heavy metal poisoning are being brought to Manila for detoxification. At the congressional inquiry spokesperson Benjamin Alfante, Vice President of the Calancan Bay Fisherfolks federation, presented a position paper that reflects the concerns and hopes of the 47 Marinduquenos who attended the hearing in Manila as representatives of villagers from all three affected municipalities.
“We are very strong in condemning the toxic spill in Boac River on March 24, 1996 but met me remind you that this occurrence was only an accidental and new one. (...) let us not forget the suffering of the residents of Sta. Cruz [Calancan Bay] who are now reaping the negative effects of the irresponsible acts of Placer Dome/Marcopper. At the same time, we should not lose sight of the older spill that brought mine waste to the Mogpog River virtually killing it to the detriment of those residents who rely on the river for their living through farming, laundry, fishing and others. (...) Let us not allow the re-opening of Marcopper or any subsidiaries. Let us not allow submarine tailings disposal (STD). Let us not allow greed [to] lord it over at the expense of thousands of lives. Thank you! (position paper presented at the congressional inquiry, Manila, May 25, 1999).
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