Exxon Mobil knew quarry was unsafe well before deadly landslide

More concern about probe of last month’s PNG landslide

An academic says that the importance of Exxon Mobil’s Liquefied Natural Gas project to Papua New Guinea’s economy might compromise the need for a comprehensive probe into last month’s Tumbi landslide, reports Radio New Zealand.
PNG’s National Disaster Centre has released a report which identifies heavy rainfall as the trigger for the landslide.
The PNG Co-ordinator for the International State Crime Initiative and Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Ulster, Kristian Lasslett, says local concerns about the role of the Tumbi quarry used by the project in the area landslide appear to have been dismissed without proper scientific analysis.

“I would speculate that there would be a lot of concerns if a serious investigation is undertaken and there is found to be a degree of negligence on the operator’s part with the Tumbi quarry could cause further delays with the project which could obviously have potentially quite significant economic effects on Exxon Mobil.”

Exxon Mobil knew quarry was unsafe well before deadly landslide

It has emerged that the Tumbi quarry used by Exxon Mobil for its major Liquefied Natural Gas project in Papua New Guinea was declared unsafe early last year, reports Radio New Zealand.
The quarry in Southern Highlands province is located at the top of a massive landslide which last month buried at least 25 people.
Johnny Blades reports:

“In its report into the landslide, PNG’s National Disaster Committee identified heavy rainfall as the trigger for the disaster, only briefly mentioning the Tumbi quarry.
However, last March, the quarry was declared unsafe by the project’s Independent Environmental and Social Consultant, D’Appolonia SPA.
The Consultant found that the contractors building the project’s Komo airfield, for which the quarry was being used, were behind schedule. Added to this, aggregate for the airfield construction was in short supply and the project’s risk assessment practices were found to be slipping after a mudslide occurred at the project’s Hides Gas Conditioning Plant site in the same area in late 2010.
The project’s PNG operator, Esso Highlands, which was found to be exercising insufficient stewardship in this area of the project, denies claims by locals that explosives were used at the quarry. Esso says it stopped using the Tumbi quarry six months ago.”