Best of our wild blogs: 10 Sep 12

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [3 - 9 Sep 2012]
from Green Business Times

Oil spill off Sultan Shoal, Jurong Island on 9 Sep 2012
from wild shores of singapore

An 'unwelcome' net @ Ubin - Sept 2012
from sgbeachbum

Three million visits and “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out”
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Malayan Racer
from Monday Morgue

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Oil spill after bunker collision off Jurong

Channel NewsAsia 9 Sep 12;

SINGAPORE: A collision between two vessels in Singapore waters between Jurong Island and Tuas View Extension Reclamation Area has resulted in an oil spill.

At about 2pm Sunday, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report that a Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier "Sunny Horizon" had collided with a Korean-registered liquefied petroleum gas carrier "DL Salvia" at the Temasek Fairway, about 700 metres east of Sultan Shoal.

The bunker tank on "DL Salvia" was breached and less than 60 metric tonnes of oil was spilled. MPA said the area of spill is concentrated within Temasek Fairway.

Upon notification, MPA immediately dispatched its patrol craft to deal with the oil spill. Oil spill response companies were also activated to augment the patrol craft.

A total of seven patrol and anti-pollution craft have been deployed to clean up the spilled oil.

Work is ongoing and MPA is coordinating the clean-up with other government agencies and the ship owners.

The two vessels involved in the collision are safely anchored in the West Jurong anchorage.

MPA has issued navigational broadcasts to ships to navigate with caution when in the vicinity of the incident site.

There is no report of injury and port operations remain unaffected.

MPA is investigating the cause of the collision.

- CNA/ir

Collision causes oil spill off western Singapore
AsiaOne 9 Sep 12;

SINGAPORE: A collision between two bulk carriers caused an oil spill on the western side of Singapore this afternoon.

About 2pm today, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) received a report that a Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier "Sunny Horizon" collided with a Korean-registered Liquefied Petroleum Gas carrier "DL Salvia" at the Temasek Fairway.

Less than 60 metric tonnes of bunker was spilled from the DL Salvia.

According to MPA, the area of spill is concentrated within about 700 metres east of Sultan Shoal, between Jurong Island and Tuas View Extension Reclamation Area.

MPA immediately dispatched its patrol craft to deal with the oil spill and oil spill response companies were also activated to augment the patrol craft.

A total of seven patrol and anti-pollution craft have been deployed to clean up the spilled oil.

MPA said that work is currently ongoing and it is coordinating the clean up with other government agencies and the ship owners.

The two vessels involved in the collision are currently safely anchored in the West Jurong anchorage.

MPA is investigating the cause of the collision and has issued navigational broadcasts to ships to navigate with caution when in the vicinity of the incident site.

There is no report of injury and port operations remain unaffected.

Oil spill after ships collide off Jurong
Straits Times 10 Sep 12;

TWO vessels collided in Singapore waters yesterday, resulting in an oil spill between Jurong Island and the Tuas View Extension Reclamation Area.

Less than 60 tonnes of oil was spilled after Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier Sunny Horizon collided with Korean-registered DL Salvia, which was carrying liquefied petroleum gas.

The accident happened at about 2pm at Temasek Fairway, which is about 700m east of Sultan Shoal, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said in a statement. No one was injured.

Port operations were unaffected but the MPA issued broadcasts to ships to ply the area carefully.

It is investigating the cause of the collision.

Seven patrol and anti-pollution craft were involved in cleaning up the spilled oil, including oil spill response companies.

MPA is coordinating the clean-up with other government agencies and the shipowners.

The two vessels have been anchored in the West Jurong anchorage, MPA said.

Oil Spill following collision between "Sunny Horizon" and "DL Salvia" at Temasek Fairway
MPA News Release 9 Sep 12;

At about 1400hrs on 9 September (Singapore time), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report that a Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier "Sunny Horizon", collided with a Korean-registered Liquefied Petroleum Gas carrier "DL Salvia" at the Temasek Fairway, about 700 metres east of Sultan Shoal. The bunker tank on "DL Salvia" was breached and less than 60 metric tonnes of bunker was spilled. The area of spill is concentrated within Temasek Fairway.

Upon notification, MPA immediately dispatched its patrol craft to deal with the oil spill. Oil spill response companies were also activated to augment the patrol craft. A total of seven patrol and anti-pollution craft have been deployed to clean up the spilled oil.Work is currently continuing and MPA is co-ordinating the clean up with other government agencies and the ship owners.

The two vessels involved in the collision are currently safely anchored in the West Jurong anchorage. MPA has issued navigational broadcasts to ships to navigate with caution when in the vicinity of the incident site. There is no report of injury and port operations remain unaffected.

MPA is investigating the cause of the collision.

For media enquiries, please call MPA's media hotline at 8366 2294.

End of release.

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Indonesia: Illegal Palm Oil Firms Blamed for Razing Protected East Kalimantan Forests

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 12;

Berau, East Kalimantan. Forestry officials and police in Berau district are investigating the burning down of 200 hectares of land inside a protected forest by illegal oil palm plantation operators.

Heri Suparno, head of forest protection at the district forestry office, said on Friday that large swaths of land inside the Tanjung Batu protected forest were razed to the ground, along with smaller patches in the neighboring Kampung Kasai community forest.

He said police had arrested five people and named them suspects in connection with the burnings and were still looking for several others believed to have gone into hiding in the forest.

“The people who burned down the forest were actually local villagers,” Heri said.

“There are indications that they were paid to do so by palm oil companies. These companies are operating illegally, they don’t have permits. We’re going to investigate them as well.”

He declined to identify the companies.

Heri added that officials had also discovered evidence of illegal logging inside Tanjung Batu, including piles of logs stacked on a riverbank, apparently ready to be transported downstream.

“There were hundreds of logs just waiting to be shipped. These were all high-value logs: meranti, marsolo and bengkirai,” he said, referring to native hardwood species.

Heri acknowledged that illegal logging was still a common practice in Berau’s protected and community forests. The former are off-limits to all logging, farming and mining activities, while the latter are restricted only to subsistence farming.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Hendro Prasetyo, the Berau Police chief, confirmed the extent of the problem and said local authorities did not have the manpower to properly patrol the district’s forests. He added that in the meantime, police would continue their questioning of the five suspects and would also process the forestry office’s report against the illegal palm oil companies.

Forest fires in Sumatra, meanwhile, are being blamed for the worst air pollution levels recorded this year in Singapore.

The city-state’s Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) ranged from 65-75 on Friday morning after a night of thick, choking haze over the island, before clearing up later in the day. A PSI reading of 65-75 is still in the moderate range. Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy.

“For the past week, an increase in hotspot activities was observed over Sumatra,” the National Environment Agency said in its latest update. “The current prevailing winds blowing from the southwest or south have transported the haze from fires in southern Sumatra toward Singapore.”

Additional reporting from AFP

Oil Palms on Razed Land to Be Torched
Tunggadewa Mattangkilang Jakarta Globe 10 Sep 12;

Berau, East Kalimantan. Forestry officials in Berau have vowed to burn down all oil palm plantations found inside the district’s Tanjung Batu protected forest, in response to findings that the operators razed more than 200 hectares of land in the restricted zone to set up the estates.

Heri Suparno, head of forest protection at the district forestry office, said on Sunday that oil palm estates covered at least 30 hectares of land inside Tanjung Batu, two-thirds of which was ready for harvesting.

“This is clearly against the 2007 Law on Protected Areas, so we’re going to burn down all 30 hectares of plantations, including those about to be harvested,” he said.

“By clearing 200 hectares of protected forest, these operators have caused an estimated Rp 4 billion [$418,000] in losses to the state, based on prevailing timber prices. Once we’ve cleared them out, we’re going to reforest the area. We’ve already prepared the seedlings.”

The plantation operators, who Heri declined to name but said were working illegally, are accused of paying local residents to clear the land through slash-and-burn methods.

Police have already arrested five people and named them suspects in connection with the burnings and are still looking for several others believed to have gone into hiding in the forest.

Four of those in custody were identified as having previously been warned by the forestry office for burning land inside the protected forest.

“Back then we caught them burning down the forest and we warned them not to do it again,” Heri said.

“We even had them sign a statement to that effect. The case at the time was similar to the current case, but smaller in scale. It was only one hectare.”

He acknowledged that illegal logging was still a common practice in Berau’s protected and community forests. The former are off-limits to all logging, farming and mining activities, while the latter are restricted only to subsistence farming.

Separately over the weekend, the East Kalimantan Plantations Agency destroyed 42,000 oil palm seedlings seized during smuggling attempts at ports and airports throughout the province so far this year.

Etnawati, the agency head, said 27,000 of the seedlings were categorized as incapable of bearing fruit, and warned that the distribution of dud seedlings was a increasing as more small-scale farmers ventured into the lucrative palm oil sector.

“They’ll only find out they’ve bought a dud after the trees reach maturity, which can take four or five years,” she said.

“This can obviously cause huge losses to the farmers if they don’t know enough to distinguish an oil palm seedling that will bear fruit from one that won’t.”

She added that those arrested for selling the duds could face up to five years in prison under the 1992 Plantations Law.

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The election effect on Indonesia's mining law

Bruce Gale Straits Times 10 Sep 12;

INDONESIA'S handling of the mining industry has come in for some trenchant criticism from foreign investors recently.

New regulations, say the mining companies, could sharply increase the cost of doing business. They are also designed, insist the critics, to benefit well- connected businessmen at the expense of the industry as a whole.

Meanwhile, British coal mining company Churchill Mining has caused a stir by taking its dispute with the East Kutai district administration in East Kalimantan to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington DC.

Churchill accuses the local government of illegally withdrawing its mining licences and seizing its assets without compensation. Similar complaints from other foreign mining firms are in the works.

So what is going on?

"It's all about the 2014 elections," explained Mr Bill Sullivan, a legal adviser to many large mining companies, when I met him at the Jakarta law offices of Christian Teo Purwono and Partners last month. Parliamentary elections are due in April 2014, while the first round of the presidential election is scheduled for July.

Indonesia has a history of coming down hard on foreign mining companies ahead of major elections. The last time was in 2009, when a new law sought to restrict a foreign mining company's ability to sub-contract work to foreign rather than local companies. It also introduced a divestiture requirement obliging foreign mining firms to sell at least 20 per cent of the shares to a local company after five years of production.

Among the even tougher rules introduced this year is one that requires foreign companies to divest majority control of their mining projects within 10 years of starting production. Another imposes a 20 per cent tax on exports of 65 unprocessed minerals and metals, including nickel, tin and gold.

The government says it wants to add value to the mining sector by forcing companies to process locally. But critics point out that no such requirement has been imposed on coal. Bumi Resources, by far the nation's largest coal exporter, is controlled by the influential Bakrie family.

Local processing of coal could improve its calorific content and thereby its value-added when sold on international markets. The problem is the heavily indebted Bakrie conglomerate would be unable to afford the investment.

Industry observers note that the rules on divestment could significantly reduce foreign investor interest. One concern is the price at which shares would be sold to Indonesian interests. The rules state that if a foreign mining company does not sell the shares to a local buyer within the stipulated period, then the government has the right to acquire them at cost (capital plus operating expenses).

In effect, this allows Indonesian companies wishing to obtain the shares to drive a hard bargain as the deadline approaches.

Based on the experience of previous years, Mr Sullivan speculates that not all of the new rules will be implemented according to current formulations.

After the 2009 elections, for example, Jakarta announced implementing regulations that effectively "watered down the conditions by giving the mine owner wider discretion (when choosing sub-contractors)" than the new legislation seemed to imply.

The same may ultimately prove true of the demand that metal and non-metal minerals be processed locally. After all, Indonesia does not have the electrical generating capacity to run the expensive smelting and refining plants that would need to be built. In the meantime, however, a 20 per cent tax on unrefined produce - except coal, of course - threatens to make local mining companies globally uncompetitive.

It is well to remember, however, that not all developments in recent years have been negative.

Indeed, such backtracking often follows major advances. The big leap forward in the 2009 legislation was the decision to allow foreigners to hold mining licences directly.

Previously, foreigners had to enter into contractual agreements with Indonesian companies, many of which had no real intention of using the licences themselves. The participation of the latter merely added to business costs while doing nothing to encourage local participation in the mining industry.

That said, another provision in the 2009 mining law transferring the authority to issue mining permits to local governments has not worked as intended.

A combination of greed and contradictory legislation has resulted in abuses of power that have produced thousands of overlapping mining permits, creating yet more legal uncertainties.

In the case of Churchill, the local regent (district head) said he revoked the company's mining permits because they overlapped with forest conservation areas.

Many in the industry, however, believe the entire thing is a charade designed to pave the way for the Nusantara Group, run by ex-army general Prabowo Subianto, who heads opposition political party Gerindra, to take control.

Foreign mining companies, it seems, will have to wait until after the 2014 elections to know their true fate.

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