Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) congratulates the Environment and Conservation Division of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology for its recent efforts to investigate non-compliance by the company operating at the Siruka mining site. We commend the Division for finally taking action after months of inaction, which had left affected communities wondering whether the Ministries mandated to serve them had abandoned their duty.
TSI understands the Division has completed a monitoring report assessing whether the company owned by Johnny Sy, Solomon Islands Mining Company Limited, has met the conditions and requirements of its environmental management plan. We are pleased to hear that the Division is in the process of issuing these reports to the company involved for compliance purposes. This therefore shows that the investigation found the company to be in breach of the environmental laws and regulations they have agreed to be bound to.
While it is encouraging to see the Ministry finally taking action towards ensuring compliance, decisive enforcement is still lacking. An In-depth Solomons report on the ‘Siruka Mining Mess’ following TSI’s recent report titled ‘Siruka Nickel Mine: Severe Environmental Impacts and Non-Compliance with Conditions of the Development Consent’ and the many calls it made to the Ministry of Mines, Environment Director Joseph Hurutarau acknowledged that the company had not “complied with environmental laws”.
The company had been warned but had taken no corrective action. TSI notes that it remains unclear whether this warning included a formal Pollution Abatement Notice under the Environment Act 1998 – a notice that requires a person or entity to stop or correct a pollution-causing activity effective immediately.
If the investigation has confirmed what the Director himself previously admitted that these mining companies are in breach of environmental laws and their environmental management plans, then there is no justification for the continued absence of a stop notice.
Section 45(1)(b) of the Environment Act 1998 empowers inspectors, in consultation with the Director, to issue a stop notice where a pollution abatement notice has been issued and the non-compliance “is causing or is about to cause conditions seriously detrimental to the environment or dangerous to human life or health”. Section 45 further allows inspectors to take measures to halt harmful activities, and non-compliance with such a stop notice constitutes an offence carrying fines or imprisonment.
The stop notice under Section 45(4) allows the inspectors, in consultation with the Director, to amend or revoke such an order served on the person/entity once satisfied that they have fulfilled the compliance issue. This makes one wonder why the Ministry responsible has been reluctant to issue a stop notice, when the communities of East Choiseul have been calling for this very action since early this year.
The law therefore provides clear authority and mechanisms for the Ministry to enforce compliance. These powers must be used decisively to safeguard communities and the environment, and not to shield companies that have shown no regard for the country’s well-being nor any respect for its law and enforcement systems.
A company that has not reacted promptly to the Ministry’s warnings; TSI’s investigative report detailing its non-compliance; community letters; or public outcry should not be trusted to comply with a new report on its non-compliance. TSI urges the Ministry to ensure enforcement by issuing a pollution abatement notice if one has not already been issued, and by issuing a stop notice until the company can demonstrate its operations are no longer harmful. Once the company demonstrates it can comply with environmental management standards, the stop notice may be revoked under the law.
TSI also calls for these monitoring reports to be made available to landowners, communities impacted, other stakeholders, public, to ensure greater transparency and accountability, and to enable communities to understand what issues are being flagged and how they are being addressed.
TSI maintains and reiterates that while this investigation represents a positive step forward, the Ministry of Environment must continue to exercise its mandate proactively, impartially with no political interference. It is commendable and great to see the Ministry extending its attention beyond Choiseul Province to investigate mining operations in Isabel Province. We hope to see increased monitoring and enforcement activities across all provinces, and for the government to consider reforming its current compliance monitoring system. As it is a system which relies heavily on a company self-reporting its non-compliance, instead of a more robust approach, such as establishing an independent body to oversee compliance.
Of great concern and disappointment is the attitude of the Director of Mines Ms Krista Tatapu whose response to questions raised with her by In-depth Solomons. These responses implies that when the law is not on your side you can ignore it.