November 3, 1995

Chancellor William H. Cunningham,
The University of Texas System,
Fax 512-499-4215,

Dear Chancellor Cunningham,

On October 31, 1995 the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US governmental agency that supplies political risk insurance to US companies operating businesses overseas, made a historically unprecedented move. They cancelled Freeport-McMoRan's one hundred million dollar insurance policy covering operations of the Irian Jaya (West Papua) mine. OPIC confirmed the cancellation on November 1 and the story was reported the next day in The New York Times (copy enclosed).

Why did OPIC cancel Freeport-McMoRan's policy? In their letter of cancellation, made available on November 2 through Freedom of Information Act request, OPIC cites Freeport's "material breaches" of contractual obligation in causing "degradation of tropical forests", and "substantial adverse environmental impacts." It states that "the project has created and continues to pose unreasonable or major environmental, health or safety hazards, with respect to the rivers that are being impacted by the tailings, the surrounding terrestrial ecosystem, and the local inhabitants." The seriousness of these charges cannot be understated. This is the first and only time OPIC has taken such drastic measures against a US company. And they have done so based on the only completely independent scientific scrutiny of Freeport's mine site.

In accordance with the extraordinary severity of OPIC's action, I call on you to immediately resign your position as a member of the Board of Directors of Freeport-McMoRan. I also call on you to immediately cancel Freeport-McMoRan's contract with the Geology Department of the University of Texas at Austin, and to immediately freeze the funding and halt the construction of a molecular biology building on the UT Austin campus to be named for Freeport CEO Jim Bob Moffett. To secure the reputation of the University of Texas you must break ties with operations that could soon be the subject of major international lawsuits and Congressional hearing.

You are on record, in print, declaring that you would not knowingly be involved in any project that brought harm to the environment. In April of this year the US government made it clear that Freeport-McMoRan is Number One on the Environmental Protection Agency's list of corporate polluters in North America. Now OPIC has made it clear that Freeport's Irian Jaya (West Papua) mine is thoroughly in violation of domestic and international environmental standards. The time has come when the only morally acceptable course of action for you is to resign from Freeport's Board, and to honor your own public declarations.

Sincerely,
Steven Feld, Professor of Anthropology and Music (until December 31, 1995)
Rte 19, Box 115G Santa Fe, NM 87505 ph/fx 505-986-0231