\n\n\n\n
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) misled the public last year when it said a second investigation found chemicals that spilled <\/em>into waterways from a Bea Mountain Mining Corporation facility were below approved levels.<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA\u2019s Executive Director Wilson Tarpeh further deceived the public, saying that rainwater had washed the leaked cyanide, arsenic and copper away<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- The EPA has not been transparent in handling the Bea Mountain pollution saga in Grand Cape Mount County. It buried the report last month on its website almost a year after the spillage<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- There is no public record Bea Mountain paid a fine for last year\u2019s spill, which undermines the \u2018polluter pay\u2019 principle of the environmental law of Liberia<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA’s arguments against misleading the public, hiding pollution reports and not punishing Bea Mountain are inconsistent with the law and not based on facts<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
MONROVIA \u2013 In June last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia announced<\/a> that Bea Mountain Mining Corporation, a Turkish-owned mining company, polluted water sources in Kinjor, Grand Cape Mount County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe analysis results showed higher than [the] permissible level of free cyanide (with source from the BMMC tailing storage facility),\u201d a statement from the agency said on August 8 last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe presence of excess cyanide led to the contamination of the water sources and that the situation has severely disrupted and injured the livelihood of the communities that depend on those water resources…,\u201d it added. The statement followed weeks of a public frenzy after dead fish and a dog\u2019s body made rounds on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in a miraculous reversal of the report, the EPA cleared the company some two months later. To the ire of residents and the outcry of the public, it said in a statement, \u201cAll facilities tested were appreciably below the permissible level set up by the EPA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing a news conference in early August that year, The Executive Director of the agency Professor Wilson Tarpeh explained the shocking reversal. Tarpeh said the agency had only set a 30-day period for waterfronts in the area to be safe for use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe limit, even though it was above, but that limit was not by itself sufficient to cause distress to the aquatic species,\u201d Tarpeh told a news conference<\/a> a day after the statement. \u201cThe cyanide level\u2014the level of pollution\u2014has been cured by natural occurrence: rain. Rainwater washed all of that away the fishes are about to come back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the actual report on the spillage<\/a> the statement and Tarpeh referenced shows the EPA deceived the public. EPA investigators had found the chemicals that leaked from the Bea Mountain facility were well above the approved limits over a month after the incident, according to the report. Chemicals in several samples collected from different locations exceeded the approved limits set by the World Health Organization and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). (The IFC, the World Bank\u2019s private lending entity, invested \u00a35.3 million<\/a> into Bea Mountain\u2019s Cape Mount project.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Wilson-Tarpeh-at-EPA-Presser-1024x683.jpg\")
The Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Wilson Tarpeh lied that a second investigation into the spillage of chemicals that leaked into water sources in Grand Cape Mount County from a waste plant operated by Bea Mountain Mining Corporation was not above approved levels. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Water samples from the area of the spillage show cyanide, iron, arsenic, and copper had seeped into the Marvoe Creek and the Mafa River. The chemicals, used to mine gold, can make people sick and are capable of killing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tests also prove that dissolved oxygen (DO), which supports aquatic life, was below the permissible level, according to the report. Mining waste can cause low concentrations of DO and kill fish, which take in the substance directly through their gills into their bloodstreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One sample shows mercury\u2014used to recover gold nuggets can cause a horde of health problems and death\u2014above the required level. Investigators attributed it to likely artisanal-mining activities, the report points out. In total, three out of five laboratory tests show illegal levels of chemicals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report says the water quality had made an \u201cappreciable improvement\u201d by July. However, the EPA focused on that development and left out the report\u2019s actual findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Minister of Justice Benedict Sannoh, the villagers\u2019 lawyer, made a similar point, despite the EPA\u2019s dishonesty over the July 2022 report. \u201cThe EPA report does not suggest and cannot be construed to mean that contamination of the Marvoe did not take place,\u201d Sannoh said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cCyanide is not a naturally occurring element of waters and creeks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with The DayLight last Wednesday, EPA Executive Director Tarpeh continued with the same deceptive narrative, focusing on the dilution of the chemicals rather than the pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn May, that\u2019s the rainy season. There is a chemical spill here each year. it rained plenty, you expect the chemicals to be there? Tarpeh asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe water washed the chemicals away. What happened in May, had it happened in the dry season, it would have had more impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lack of Transparency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EPA has not been transparent over the spillage, which paralyzed the livelihood of some 350 people in affected communities. It did not inform the public about the full scale of the pollution. The July remains buried on the agency\u2019s website. You have to conduct an advanced search on the website to find the report, though earlier documents are in plain sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was unclear when EPA actually published the reports. For the last two or three years or so, EPA\u2019s website does not show dates of publications. The agency\u2019s webmasters make that determination. That empowers webmasters to manipulate publications\u2019 dates, according to an information technology expert who does not want to be named. The DayLight\u2019s analysis of the website shows that both the May and July reports were published on April 5, 2023, nearly a year after the incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ngumbu, who investigated the spill, blamed technical issues for the website’s dateless publications. He said the website was being constructed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tarpeh added that the EPA delayed publishing the report because it had to complete its reporting process before publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur report room is very huge, it is a new phenomenon that we\u2019ve introduced for reporting,\u201d Tarpeh said. Here, we have to be exhaustive. \u201cIf I came to your company and I found that something is wrong, I am the regulator and you say no I do not agree, we base on the principle of due process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The excuse does not hold. EPA was very open with the May report on the spill. It issued several statements last year\u2014the first just days after news of the spill\u2014and called a press conference. Even appeared before the Legislature on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency\u2019s actions to keep the July report quiet were almost palpable. Tarpeh had dedicated nearly all of the time to a press conference a day after the misleading statement that cleared the company to wetlands. He spent around two and a half minutes on the spillage, though it was the most trending environmental issue then. An attempt by The DayLight to pose a question on the spill was denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Noteworthy, investigators had recommended a press conference particularly on the matter in the presence of company representatives, according to the July 2022 report. A report<\/a> on another spillage this year, published at the same time as the May and July 2022 reports, suggests the EPA did not share last year\u2019s findings with affected communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EPA has continued its concealment trend this year after chemicals leaked again from the same facility<\/a> in February. Meanwhile, 100 people have left the Jikando, the epicenter of the pollution, that report says. The current spill remained unreported until late last month when The DayLight broke the news. EPA had likely published it at the same time as the reports on last year\u2019s spillage, over a month after the incident had occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMore on Bea Mountain Spills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- EPA Lies on The DayLight Over Chemicals Spill Story<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA Somersaults Over Cape Mount River Pollution<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Bea Mountain Polluted River in Cape Mount Again, Report Finds<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Villagers Face Hardship After Pollution<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Bea Mountain Caused Cape Mount River Pollution, EPA Finds<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe EPA refuted <\/a>The DayLight\u2019s story on this year\u2019s spill and its disguise of the new development as a \u201cdiabolical lie.\u201d It has, however, remained quiet on the new incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are [a] scientific and [a] regulatory agency. What we do has legal implications. We can sue and can be sued,\u201d said Dobayou, who imposed an illegally huge fine against Bea Mountain in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Screen-Shot-2023-05-02-at-11.48.53-AM-1024x510.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Screenshot-2023-05-01-at-12.07.44-1024x640.png\")
We had to search the EPA website to find the dates on which the Bea Mountain spill reports were published, as the website does not reflect the dates on which items were published<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Concealing information violates the public participation portion of the Environmental Protection and Management Law<\/a>. The particular provision mandates the EPA to \u201censure maximum participation by the Liberian people in the management and decision-making processes of the environment and natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No Punishment for Bea Mountain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no evidence the EPA imposed a fine against Bea Mountain for last year\u2019s spillage, one of at least five in the last decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report of this year\u2019s spillage called on EPA to impose a fine against the company for violating the law and the terms of its waste plant permit. It found that Bea Mountain did not implement all the recommendations of the May 2022 report but did not specify. Like this year\u2019s report, the two reports from last year had urged the EPA to fine the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 2020 EPA investigation of Bea Mountain\u2019s controversial waste plant found the company operated an open wastewater facility, rather than the approved closed one. It said the company conducted construction at the plant without authorization. It further said Bea Mountain denied EPA investigators access to its laboratory and company documents. Investigators found the water from a 25-centimeter metal pipe, which emptied into a wetland in the area, contained an excess of the deadly cyanide, copper, and iron. The report also called for fines at the time. Two years earlier in 2018, the EPA fined Bea Mountain US$99,999<\/a> for the same offense. EPA ordered the company to pay to the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) \u201cwithin 72 hours as of the receipt of the notice of fine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/IMG_2500-1024x683.jpg\")
The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA), 3rd Street, Sinkor. The DayLight\/Mark B. Newa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Asked why EPA did not fine Bea Mountain, Tarpeh did not confirm or deny. \u201cWe don\u2019t collect the money,\u201d he said, dodging the question. Normally, if a company pays a fine to the LRA, it must present a receipt to the institution that imposed the fine. Tarpeh ignored that fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGo to the LRA,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
LRA records show that Bea Mountain has never paid an EPA-imposed fine in its 14 years of operations in Liberia<\/a>. All but one of the company\u2019s fines have been customs-related, imposed by the LRA itself. The other fine is also a solitary US$100 just the same time as last year\u2019s spill the LRA calls \u201cother legal fines and penalties.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such impunity undermines the \u201cpolluter pay\u201d principle of the environmental law the EPA was established to implement. Based on the law, Bea Mountain should have paid up to a 10-year prison term or a fine not more than US$25,000, or both fine and imprisonment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bea Mountain, which denied any wrongdoing regarding the spillage last year, did not reply to queries for this story. The Turkish-owned company signed a 25-year agreement<\/a> with the Liberian government on July 29, 2009. It is owned by Turkish billionaire Mehmet Nazif G\u00fcnal<\/a>, also the owner of MNG Gold, which also has a 25-year agreement with Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bea Mountain\u2019s history of polluting water sources in the Gola Konneh District dates back to 2015, according to media reports. Then the next year, an accident released chemical waste<\/a> into nearby waterfronts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After those spills, villagers filed a complaint with two European banks<\/a> that finance Bea Mountain\u2019s goldmine. Bea Mountain said the spill in 2016 was the result of \u201can extremely rare and unusual weather event that led to the overflowing\u201d of its waste facility, according to a report<\/a> by the banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nFunding for the story was provided by the Green Livelihood Alliance (GLA 2.0) through the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI). The DayLight maintained complete editorial independence over its content. <\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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- Bea Mountain Caused Cape Mount River Pollution, EPA Finds<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Villagers Face Hardship After Pollution<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Bea Mountain Polluted River in Cape Mount Again, Report Finds<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA Somersaults Over Cape Mount River Pollution<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA Lies on The DayLight Over Chemicals Spill Story<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA’s arguments against misleading the public, hiding pollution reports and not punishing Bea Mountain are inconsistent with the law and not based on facts<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- There is no public record Bea Mountain paid a fine for last year\u2019s spill, which undermines the \u2018polluter pay\u2019 principle of the environmental law of Liberia<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- The EPA has not been transparent in handling the Bea Mountain pollution saga in Grand Cape Mount County. It buried the report last month on its website almost a year after the spillage<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- EPA\u2019s Executive Director Wilson Tarpeh further deceived the public, saying that rainwater had washed the leaked cyanide, arsenic and copper away<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n