Where’s the Minister of Energy and Mines?
Published by MAC on 2001-05-01
Where’s the Minister of Energy and Mines?
Tambogrande Update – Nov. 21, 2003
From: CooperAccion, Peru
In the last update we reported that the Environment and Ecology Sub-commission of the Peruvian Congress had scheduled a session on Tambogrande with Francisco Ojeda, Mayor of Tambogrande and Hans Flury, Minister of Energy and Mines. The session was scheduled for this Wednesday but was canceled, for reasons that remain unclear. The session has been rescheduled for next Wednesday, the 26th of November.
In the meantime, the Ministry of Energy and Mines has been conspicuously quiet. The Ministry’s position regarding the aborted public consultation process for Manhattan’s EIA is unclear.
The Supposed "Tambogrande Effect"
On Tuesday November 18, the public hearing that was scheduled for the Alto Chicama mineral project (Barrick Gold – in the Department of La Libertad) was canceled. Approximately 300 protesters congregated at the hearing site. The MEM blamed the failure on the "Tambogrande Effect." In other words, the Tambogrande case has established a precedent that other communities are now following. It seems that the Ministry has not considered the possibility that the public participation process is flawed and that the public lacks confidence in the process.
Peruvian Academics Concur that EIA is Extremely Weak
This week the Episcopal Commission for Social Action (CEAS) and Diaconia for Justice and Peace (Archbishops of Piura and Tumbes) released a technical review of Manhattan’s EIA that was undertaken by the Centre for Research on Applied Geography of the Catholic University. The review is highly critical of the EIA. Several of the report’s general conclusions follow below:
- In the majority of cases, the EIA presents very general information. There is little detail and the study often fails to identify the exact methods used to general the information.
- There are technical errors that call into question the true impact of the proposed mining activities on the local population’s quality of life.
- The EIA is sloppy in its presentation of source materials, dates, scales (maps) and methods – calling into question the accuracy and reliability of the information.
- It’s unclear how the population would participate in proposed community development activities.
- The language is unnecessarily complex, minimizing public access. Moreover, there are constant references to other documents in the EIA (for example the annexes and the environmental baseline study) that are not readily comprehensible.
- Technical issues are treated superficially. In many cases the information that is presented does not make sense, there is conflicting information and important variables or indicators are missing.
CooperAccion
Jr. Berlin 1353
Miraflores, Lima, Peru
tel: 444-0316
fax: 445-0908
email: mail@cooperaccion.org.pe