Govt excludes mining firms from environmental audit
Govt excludes mining firms from environmental audit
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has excluded mining companies from the 2002
environmental audit (PROPER) due to the lack of precise
indicators to measure the amount of damage they have caused to
the environment, says an official.
"We can assess mining firms based on pollution criteria, but
we do not have clear indicators yet to appraise their
environmental destruction, and that is why the government has
decided not to include mining companies on the list of firms to
be audited in 2002," Deputy State Minister for the Environment
Isa Karmisa Ardiputra, who is in charge of the Management of
Environmental Impact from Institutional Sources, told reporters
on Wednesday.
The government reintroduced PROPER last year to inform the
public about polluting companies, after the environmental audit
was stopped in 1997 because of the economic crisis.
The 2002 PROPER's results will be announced within the next
two weeks, said Isa.
PROPER is an audit of companies' environmental performance
based on air and water pollution, waste management and
environmental damages.
A total of 85 companies had been listed to take part in the
2002 PROPER, 12 of which were mining firms. The remaining
companies are in the forestry and manufacturing sectors.
The 12 mining firms that have been phased out from the 2002
PROPER are: PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua, PT Kaltim Prima Coal
and PT Kelian Equatorial Mining in East Kalimantan, PT Adaro and
PT Arutmin in South Kalimantan, PT INCO in South Sulawesi, PT
Newmont Nusa Tenggara in West Nusa Tenggara, PT Antam Pomala
Kolaka in Southeast Sulawesi, PT Timah and Kobatin in Bangka
Belitung, PT Antam in West Java and PT Bukit Asam in South
Sumatra.
Isa said the government must establish clear criteria on
environmental destruction caused by mining firms.
"For example, we should determine a measurement based on
change in landscape, floods and forest destruction because of
mining operations," he said.
KPC spokesman Drajat Panjawi and Newmont Nusa Tenggara
spokesman Heru Harjono said that their firms had not been
informed by the Office of the State Minister for the Environment
about the exclusion of mining firms from the 2002 PROPER list.
Drajat added that principally, KPC was ready to undergo the
2002 PROPER.
"We still support the program, as it will verify whether we
care about our environment or not," he said.
Isa said the 2002 PROPER showed that between 60 percent to 70
percent of the participants were polluters, but he declined to
identify them.
For example, he said, many firms in the forestry and
agriculture industry had failed to comply with hazardous waste
management regulations and standards.
"They may possess the facilities to collect, store and manage
the hazardous waste for further use, but do not have any license
from the government to do so," he said.