G. CHAGNAADORJ: Illegal miners are polluting Orkhon River
After Naadam, there have been reports that some mining companies are still polluting Orkhon River, which led to opposition from the public on social media. Head of Ariun Suvarga NGO G.Chagnaadorj, who dedicated 20 years of his life to protecting nature, rivers and lakes from mining companies violating the law, went to Arkhangai Province to see what exactly happened to Orkhon River in person. G.Chagnaadorj gave an interview to Unuudur about issues surrounding the river.
Everyone residing near Orkhon River or those who visited, criticized that the river has been polluted by illegal mining operations in recent years, and state authorities are neglecting this issue. How is the real situation on the ground?
Orkhon is the longest river in Mongolia, and four large mining companies are operating at the source of the river in Tsenkher soum of Arkhangai Province. On the ground, contaminated rain water caused by some mining companies’ illegal operations is pouring into the river, which is a heartbreaking thing for me because it is my home land. When people ask the companies why they stream contaminated water into the river, they say, “This is not contaminated water, it is rainwater.” Two years ago, two inspectors from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism named M.Tulga and Ch. Chuluunbaatar instructed the companies’ directors to build dams that block contaminated water from going into the river. Following the inspectors’ instruction, the companies built some dams, which worked for a period of time, but today the crucial parts of the dams were destroyed by heavy rains and other natural impacts, and contaminated water is severely polluting the river. Matters surrounding Orkhon River have been controversial for many years. Officials from ministries in charge of mining and environment affairs visited the river to see what is happening, but we have not seen a good outcome from the ministries’ decisions about protecting the river.
Could you tell us which companies are operating at the source of the river?
Mongol Gazar, BBMS, Batbrothers and Altai Gold are the major companies there, but there are many small companies.
Obviously, it is terrible times for local residents who have lived near the river for many years to watch mining companies destroy their home land. Are local people and herders against the companies’ actions? If so, how are they protesting against the mining companies?
Everyone residing there agrees that mining companies are destroying their home. Unfortunately, there are a lot of herders who think about the money they get from mining companies for necessities, their children’s tuition fees or fees to see a doctor in Ulaanbaatar. Instead of standing together with others or NGOs against the companies, they prefer to beg for little money from the companies. Many herders are not worried about their future, and cannot see what will happen to their lives in the near future if the companies keep destroying their pasture, rivers, lakes and trees through their illegal mining activities. Actually, this is only my review. If local herders want the companies to invest to their lives, they should demand that they do something that give common benefits to the nearly 1,500 individuals from over 200 families residing near the river. For instance, they can ask the companies to build a short road that links to the main road connecting Tsetserleg, the capital of Arkhangai Province, to Ulaanbaatar, but they don’t do it. As mining company drivers are driving everywhere, there are too many bad rural tracks all around mineral deposit sites surrounding the river, and truck movement is badly destroying local pasture and environment.
Some people say that as NGOs don’t have enough power to combat against powerful rich mining companies, their activities don’t reach better results. What do you think about this perception?
I set up Ariun Suvarga NGO in 2000. Since that time, I started activities against a lot of mining companies to stop their illegal operations that are leading to environmental pollution. These companies were afraid of me. In reality, I did not scare them, and I just introduced them to laws and regulations, and how they can adhere to the law and carry out accurate and eco-friendly operations under the law. After my demand, unless they stop doing illegal actions, I make complaints about them to state authorities detailing how mining companies are violating laws and how their operations are affecting the environment.
A couple of years ago, law enforcement authorities were strictly adhering to the law and imposed companies violating the law high penalties, but they have been growing weaker in recent years when they impose penalties to rich companies which repeatedly violate the law. Some say, “The country is going through challenging economic times, so we should promote the nation’s mining sector.”
Nobody is against mining, but we demand mining companies to work under the law and to provide environmental rehabilitation after concluding their mining operations. As the state authorities don’t hold accountability to companies violating the law and don’t demand environmental rehabilitation, this encourages companies to keep conducting illegal operations.
To tell you the truth, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, General Agency for Specialized Inspection, Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry, and Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority are not working together to protect the environment and demand mining companies operating outside the law to stop illegal activities, and these government organizations just swap letters with each other. Representatives of the government visit mining sites every year to inspect mining companies’ operations, but their inspection seems to be a picnic trip rather than an inspection. As associates of major mining companies hold key positions with ministries and government agencies, mining companies are already informed about when exactly state authorities will conduct an unannounced inspection to review their operations, which is why the companies stop their illegal operations affecting the environment before inspectors arrive. This is how state authorities and mining companies are cheating each other under the pretense of an inspection. Therefore, inspectors cannot uncover illegal actions of rich companies. They just pretend to inspect mining operations under their seasonal or annual schedule, but they know how the companies are trying to hide their actions that violate laws and regulations, and they don’t want to unravel them. State organizations and private companies both need to adhere to the law.
We can see how a river is being polluted through the color of its water. Do you have information from a study or survey about Orkhon River’s ecosystem decline?
As I was born to a herder’s family that moved around the river, I know much about how the river’s ecosystem is changing. Let me share a fact with you. When I was young, the river had countless Siberian taimen. Since miners started operating in the beginning of 2000s, the number of taimen notably dropped, and today this fish is rare in the river. Another fact is that environmental contaminants in soil, sediment and surface water have been detected there for almost two decades. There are a lot of factors which could cause the environmental degradation of Orkhon River, and the most negative impact is caused
by mining companies. Also, in summer, tourist camps have a negative effect on the river’s ecosystem.
Holding accountability to companies causing environmental damage by repeatedly violating the law is not difficult for powerful state authorities, but they don’t give offenders appropriate penalties. What can we do?
When a mining company gets approval from state authorities for a mining or exploration license, the company makes a rehabilitation plan. But after concluding their mining or exploration operations, they don’t perform environmental remediation as state authorities have lack of control over the implementations of mining companies’ environmental remediation. State organizations and inspectors have a strong authority to revoke licenses of mining companies that repeatedly violate the law and affect the environment, but they don’t revoke licenses.
Parliament adopted a number of good strong laws in support of improving mining operations, promoting environmental protection, and addressing environmental degradation, but the implementations of these laws are very poor. Especially, Mongolia’s prosecutors are not adhering to the law when they make decisions regarding illegal mining operations. Despite a lot of evidence that mining companies are affecting the environment, courts rule in favor of miners, which encourages illegal actions.
A couple of years ago, law enforcement authorities and civil society brought 36 mining companies which carried out illegal operations in Arkhangai Province to justice, and these companies were fined. Recently, we had some good news. In response to some complaints from NGOs which operate to protect the environment, the court ruled in favor of the civil society.
...Nobody is against mining, but we demand mining companies to work under the law and to provide environmental rehabilitation after concluding their mining operations...