Industrial waste ruling desputed by companies
Industrial waste ruling desputed by companies
JAKARTA (JP): Local mining and industrial companies called on
President B.J. Habibie on Friday to review the new ruling on the
management of industrial waste, saying the ruling would kill
them.
Executive director of the Indonesian Mining Association (IMA)
Paul Louis Coutrier said Government Regulation No. 18/1999 on the
management of toxic and dangerous materials, which was decreed by
the President on Feb. 27 this year, contains strict conditions
that few mining and industrial companies were able to meet.
"The conditions set in the regulation are even far stricter
than those implemented in such developed countries as the United
States, Japan and Canada, where people are much more aware than
us about the environment and have better technologies to protect
the environment," Coutrier said at a news conference at the
Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Coutrier noted that local mining and industrial companies
would have to investment heavily to buy technologies for the
treatment of their waste under the new regulation.
Some conditions are so strict that no company in the world
would able to meet it using the most sophisticated technology.
The regulation stipulates, among other things, that the
tailing of mining companies is considered toxic and dangerous if
it contains more than 0.004 milligrams of fluoride per liter.
Today, Coutrier said, the most sophisticated technology can
only detect fluoride content of more than 0.1 milligram per
liter.
He also complained that the government had put the regulation
into immediate effect, leaving no time for local mining and
industrial companies to adjust to the new regulation.
"Theoretically, all mining and industrial companies have been
violating the regulation," Coutrier said.
"The implementation of the regulation will lead to the closure
of all mining and industrial companies, especially small and
middle-sized ones.
"That means the government and the public will lose millions
of rupiah and dollars in potential revenue every year and tens of
thousands of workers will be laid off," Coutrier said.
Several top officials of the Ministry of Mines and Energy and
the Ministry of Industry and Trade, who were present at the news
conference, supported Coutier's view.
They said both ministries had appealed to the President to
review the regulation.
In fact, the officials said, the regulation had been drafted
by the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) of the
Ministry of Environment along with ministries and related
agencies.
But the agency later submitted the draft regulation to the
President for final approval along with a document that had not
been examined by other ministries and agencies.
The document specified the acceptable limits for chemical
contents in mining tailings and industrial waste.
"Certain people have manipulated the draft regulation,"
Coutrier said without specifying. (jsk)