PNGBLOGS

FINANCIAL TIMES Papua New Guinea’s government has upset conservationists, landowners and parliamentarians after amending environmental laws last Friday that will make it harder to prosecute mining projects that damage the environment. Tiffany Nonggorr, a lawyer representing close to 1,000 landowners, including those opposed to China Metallurgical Group’s US$1.4bn Ramu nickel mine, said the changes meant landowners had lost the right to sue for negligence. “If they [the miners] did in PNG what BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, they could escape liability for damaging the environment,” she said. Coastal landowners are particularly worried about the impact on marine life from waste that the Ramu mine will be allowed to dump into the ocean. Powes Parkop, a PNG parliamentarian, lawyer and conservation advocate said the government had granted itself “almost absolute power” to grant environment permits and assess the standards required of those permit holders. He said at the same time it had

FINANCIAL TIMES Papua New Guinea’s government has upset conservationists, landowners and parliamentarians after amending environmental laws last Friday that will make it harder to prosecute mining projects that damage the environment. Tiffany Nonggorr, a lawyer representing close to 1,000 landowners, including those opposed to China Metallurgical Group’s US$1.4bn Ramu nickel mine, said the changes meant landowners had lost the right to sue for negligence. “If they [the miners] did in PNG what BP has done in the Gulf of Mexico, they could escape liability for damaging the environment,” she said. Coastal landowners are particularly worried about the impact on marine life from waste that the Ramu mine will be allowed to dump into the ocean. Powes Parkop, a PNG parliamentarian, lawyer and conservation advocate said the government had granted itself “almost absolute power” to grant environment permits and assess the standards required of those permit holders. He said at the same time it h