'Pollution caused by ignorance'

JAKARTA (JP): The top managers of many manufacturing companies are either ignorant or misinformed about the pollution that their plants are emitting, according to State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

"Top managers are often the last to know that their company causes excessive pollution because the only information they receive are nice, pleasing reports from subordinates seeking to win praise," Sarwono told reporters on Saturday.

The minister said he had reached this conclusion after evaluating the results of the government's current Clean Rivers program.

Such misinformation often led to political rifts between companies and environmental law enforcers, he said.

Most managers, he said, defend the data provided by their companies' research divisions or consultants, never suspecting that it might be incorrect. "And if there are complaints of pollution from people living around the plant, the managers will think that the issue has been politicized, and they will respond with a political attitude as well," he said.

The Clean Rivers program, launched in 1987 by then minister of environment Emil Salim, aims to reduce the amount of pollutants discharged by factories into 27 rivers. Further rivers are to be added to the program in the future.

Performance

As part of the campaign, the government plans to rate manufacturing companies according to their performance in controlling the waste they discharge into rivers.

A total of 187 plants have so far been evaluated by the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal).

Sarwono, who heads the agency, said that the government would announce the ratings today. "We will announce the name of the plants, and not the group of companies they are affiliated with, because it is possible that one group may have both good, law- abiding plants and bad ones."

Nabiel Makarim, Deputy Chief for Bapedal, said the plants have been selected from more than 1,000 which agreed to participate in the program. "These plants have the appropriate data required for the evaluation, meaning that the information is assessed through reliable, consistent methods," he said.

Nabiel said that sound Clean Rivers ratings would benefit companies by boosting their reputation.

"Some companies will use the results of the Clean Rivers program as an aid to introspection, because they may not have even been aware of the real condition of their plants prior to the evaluation," he said.

Sarwono said the program also encouraged the public to monitor the performance of industrial plants in their area.

People should feel free to complain if a company is harming the environment, he said.

Nabiel said that industries which failed to meet Clean Rivers standards would be given six months to comply. (pwn)