New mayor stands firm against Peru Tambogrande mine
Date: 13-Dec-02
Country: PERU
Manhattan presented its environmental impact study to the Peruvian government on Monday and says it will hold more than 10 public hearings on the controversial planned mine next year, ahead of a hoped-for start of operations in late 2004.
"We haven't changed our minds. We're going to fight on. The people are standing by their decision," Francisco Ojeda, who will take over as the town's mayor on Jan 1, told CPN radio.
In June, Tambogrande residents turned out in force for an informal vote on the project in which 99 percent of voters gave it the thumbs down. But 27 percent of eligible voters did not take part in the poll, which Manhattan slammed as flawed.
Ojeda, who also heads a local pressure group called the Tambogrande Defense Front, was elected mayor on an independent, pro-agriculture ticket. On behalf of the mine's opponents, he was awarded an environmental defense prize on Tuesday by Peru's human rights umbrella group, which helped organize the June popular vote on the mine plan.
The fertile San Lorenzo valley produces 40 percent of Peru's mangoes and limes. The open-cast pit will encroach on part of the town, requiring some 1,800 homes to be relocated.
Manhattan Chairman and CEO Larry Glaser told Reuters on Tuesday the company would not use any water supply earmarked for farming or dump waste water on agricultural land.
And he said the project would only proceed if "there is a consensus of opinion in favor of the project."
But he said locals had been fed "misinformation and misunderstanding" and anticipated their support once the study, conducted by independent consultants, was explained to them.
Glaser said residents in line for relocation were among the project's staunchest supporters because they would get modern new homes with facilities unavailable in some parts of Tambogrande. Manhattan estimates only 15 percent of the town's homes have electricity, water, sewage and paved streets.
To sweeten the deal for farmers, he proposed that the 25 percent of the project slated to remain in the hands of the Peruvian government be transferred to local municipalities, to give them cash to invest in the agriculture sector.
But Ojeda slammed Manhattan's environmental impact study.
"The presentation of this study is a desperate attempt to try to get in before we take over (in January)," he said.
Opponents of the mine took out a newspaper advertisement this week calling on the government to respect their wishes. "To give way to mining would mean riding roughshod over the rights of this town," it said.