TPL may be innocent, says minister

TPL may be innocent, says minister

JAKARTA: State Minister of the Environment Nabiel Makarim said
on Wednesday that it would be difficult to prove if pulp
producing company, Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), was to blame for the
acid rain in the Porsea district of North Sumatra.

"There is no evidence backing this claim, because rain has yet
to fall there," Nabiel said after a meeting with Vice President
Hamzah Haz here.

He said locals had blamed the company's sulfurous gas
emissions for acid rain in the district.

He noted that one way to prove this was to take samples of the
rainwater.

However, he said, there had not been any rain in the area so
far.

TPL has resumed operations after being closed for a few months
following complaints from locals that it was polluting the
environment.

The government has allowed the company to resume its
production of pulp, but not rayon.

TPL has reportedly been able to overcome the waste disposal
problem and will, in the next six to nine months, acquire
equipment that will clear the area of the bad smell that the
factory continues to produce.

Nabiel called on locals to refrain from the use of violence in
dealing with the issue. --Antara