“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: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/cat_mining.html
I first started writing about the saga in November 2005, read my first blog post here: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/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!
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
