Environmental auditing is voluntary: Bapedal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government has no intention of compelling
\nindustrial companies to undertake environmental auditing,
\nstressing that it is strictly voluntary.<\/p>\n
Rusdian Lubis of the Environmental Impact Management Agency
\n(Bapedal) said in a seminar that the audits are meant to ensure
\nthe implementation of the environment management and monitoring
\nplans.<\/p>\n
He said the government regulation on the Environmental Impact
\nAssessment (Amdal) requires industrial companies to have such
\nplans.<\/p>\n
Lubis made the remarks in a discussion on environmental
\nauditing, the first of a series of conferences held by the
\nIndonesian Forum of Environment (Walhi) to celebrate its 14th
\nanniversary.<\/p>\n
"We have already had a lot of mandatory policies. Why don't we
\nmake the environmental auditing policy voluntary?" said Lubis,
\nwho heads Bapedal's development control and monitoring of the
\nenvironmental impact assessment section.<\/p>\n
He said that environmental auditing was expected to become a
\ntechnical management tool for the companies to show the public
\nthat they care about the environment.<\/p>\n
The companies are expected to implement the policy introduced
\nby the government late last year once they realize its
\nadvantages, he said.<\/p>\n
The government, however, can have a company audited if there
\nare strong allegations that it is damaging the environment, he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
So far there are three companies have been ordered to undergo
\naudits: PT Inti Indorayon Utama, a pulp and rayon plant, and two
\ninternational mining companies, PT Freeport Indonesia and PT
\nCaltex Pacific Indonesia.<\/p>\n
This does not necessarily mean that there are only three
\ncompanies which pollute the environment, Lubis said, adding that
\nmore industrial firms might be told to do the same.<\/p>\n
Slack<\/p>\n
Lubis agreed to a participants' comment that enforcement of
\nthe environmental laws was still slack.<\/p>\n
The problems have to do with the lack of knowledge on
\nenvironment and the political climate which is not conducive for
\nthe implementation of sustainable development principles, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Willy Chan from the Labbat & Anderson American Consultant,
\nsaid that he had finished auditing PT Inti Indorayon Utama, and
\nhad submitted the results to the government.<\/p>\n
Even though the environmental auditing is not mandatory, there
\nare several companies which have done it.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the Pertamina state oil company and PT
\nAstra, a private company, said that they had made the internal
\nenvironment audits long before the policy was introduced by the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
Khalid Mohamad, an executive of Walhi's regional forum,
\npraised Pertamina's concern with the environment, but deplored
\nthe fact that the firm did nothing to prevent pollution by its
\ncontractors.<\/p>\n
He said that one of Pertamina's contractors, Mobil Oil, was
\nbelieved to have been heavily polluting a river in North Sumatra.
\n(sim)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/environmental-auditing-is-voluntary-bapedal-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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