BPPT verification to confirm Buyat Bay contamination: Minister
BPPT verification to confirm Buyat Bay contamination: Minister
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Manado
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar expressed
optimism on Tuesday that the verification of a joint team's
investigation into the Buyat Bay would not alter the results.
Rachmat said the verification, carried out by the Agency for
the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), would deal
primarily with technicalities applied during the investigation.
"The BPPT is now verifying the results and in a short time, I
hope they can confirm things that we have worried and suspected
in this case so far," Rachmat said on Tuesday.
The joint team -- the latest to conduct tests on Buyat Bay and
concluded them a few weeks ago -- included representatives from
the police, the government, activists, the BPPT, and also mining
firm PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR), which has been accused of
polluting the bay.
The team study found that the bay was indeed contaminated with
excessive levels of arsenic and mercury, far beyond the safety
levels by any local and international standards.
The team also found that the firm had violated several
operating procedures, including the environmental impact
assessment document required to operate a business here.
Rachmat said he expected the verification would be complete in
the next two weeks, to allow further moves to be taken.
"If we find any party responsible for this problem, of course
we'll hold them. We'll find ways so that the follow up of the
tests would do good for the Buyat people," he said, adding that
the government would also submit the test results to the police.
Laboratory tests by the police also showed that the bay was
polluted with high levels of metal substances.
The director of assessment and application of environmental
technology at BPPT, Tusi Adibroto, said that the verification
would seek to validate the team's findings in terms of academic
point of view.
"It's more on the methodology the team used and other
technical issues. However, it is unlikely that we would carry out
another test unless there are things we find doubtful," she told
The Jakarta Post.
However, she was unable to elaborate on the specific points
the BPPT wished to validate nor how long the process would take.
Tusi added the decision to carry out a verification was made
after members of the joint team had different interpretations on
several findings and assigned the BPPT as a third party to draw
alternative conclusions.
On Monday, the police submitted the case files of six
executives of NMR to North Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office after
previously being returned to the police last month due to lack of
evidence and documents.
The police, led by National Police director for special crimes
Brig. Gen. Suharto, also brought along the six executives to be
transferred under the prosecutor's custody.
However, the prosecutors refused to take the executives since
their files were yet to be reviewed and a transfer was only
feasible after the files were declared complete.
The six executives -- Bill Long, Phil Turner, David Sompie,
Jerry Kojansow, Putra Jayatri, and Richard Ness -- remains under
city arrest.