House urges govt to name polluters<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives called on the government to announce
\nimmediately the final report on an audit (PROPER) of companies
\nwhich are allegedly polluting the environment to help uphold the
\nlaw on the environment and avoid raising any suspicions of
\ncollusion among the public.<\/p>\n
Irwan Prayitno, chairman of Commission VIII on oil, gas,
\nmining and the environment, said any delay in the announcement of
\nthe audit's results would raise questions among the public.<\/p>\n
\"If PROPER's results are final, the government should announce
\nit to the public. It will be very good for public to know which
\ncompanies comply with the law on the environment and those
\npolluting the environment,\" said Irwan when asked on Monday to
\ncomment on the government's delay in announcing the result.<\/p>\n
State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim disclosed to
\nthe commission last week that the environmental audit was
\nfinished but he declined to identify the polluting companies.<\/p>\n
PROPER is conducted annually to encourage companies,
\nespecially the ones using pollutants in their raw materials, to
\nhelp preserve the environment. The government has also conducted
\na clean river program (Prokasih) to discourage companies from
\ndumping toxic waste into the rivers.<\/p>\n
Non-governmental organizations and environmentalists have
\nurged the public not to buy products produced by polluting
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
Nabiel also expressed disappointment over the findings, saying
\nmany companies had poor management of waste water for numerous
\nreasons.<\/p>\n
Based on the PROPER's result, the government will rank the
\ncompanies, depending on their performance in managing their
\nwaste. Companies complying with the law in managing their waste
\nwill be awarded gold and green environment labels while companies
\npolluting the environment will be given red and black labels.<\/p>\n
Nabiel said there had been a growing trend since the 1998
\neconomic crisis for companies to pay less attention to protecting
\nthe environment.<\/p>\n
Nabiel said that many factories in Java no longer complied
\nwith the law on the environment in managing their waste due to
\nincreased overall costs.<\/p>\n
Julius Bobo, member of Commission VIII, said the government
\nshould start imposing sanctions on polluting companies to
\nencourage other companies to comply with the law.<\/p>\n
\"There is no reason for the government to delay the
\nannouncement of the list of polluting companies for another two
\nmonths as the result is final,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government faces a dilemma in identifying the polluting
\ncompanies because the audit was conducted randomly and the
\ngovernment had run short of equipment to examine the serious
\nimpacts of polluting companies' waste water on the environment.<\/p>\n
Many companies declared as polluters, are expected to object
\nto the environmental audit, since not all companies were examined
\nthoroughly.<\/p>\n
The government examined only 85 of thousands of companies
\nacross the country<\/p>\n
Hermien Roosita, an assistant to the environment minister on
\nenvironmental conservation, conceded that her office had carried
\nout a limited examination of certain companies.<\/p>\n
\"We just want PROPER's results to be perfect,\" she said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/house-urges-govt-to-name-polluters-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }