Walhi won't file suit against polluters

Walhi won't file suit against polluters

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)
says it has no immediate plans to file lawsuits against companies
named by the government as the worst industrial polluters,
despite offers of assistance from the state.

Walhi, which in the past has represented people in
environmental disputes, viewed the environmental rating system
used by the Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) as
so fraught with weaknesses that it might not stand up in court.

"The evaluation and rating program is still in a trial and
error phase," Arimbi Heroepoetri, the forum's manager of the
environmental law program, told The Jakarta Post.

"Its rating system has yet to be tested in the field," she
said, adding that Bapedal has credibility problems.

Bapedal last week announced the names of the five worst
industrial polluters. State Minister for Environment Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja, who also chairs the agency, said that while his
office had no plans to prosecute the polluters, Bapedal officers
would be prepared to testify for members of the public who
decided to take up legal action against the culprits.

Sarwono said Bapedal's latest study could also be used by law
enforcement agencies as evidence in court trials.

Bapedal's study rated more than 200 companies according to how
they have lived up to their environmental responsibilities. At
present, the study was restricted to rating the waste they
discharged into rivers.

A gold rating is reserved for the best performers with zero
pollution. Not a single company qualified for this. Then followed
green, blue, red and black.

Sarwono named the five companies that were rated black,
reserved for the worst polluters. They were PT Raja Garuda Mas
Panel, a plywood producer in Riau; PT Tirta Mahakam Plywood
Industry in East Kalimantan; PT Papyrus Sakti Paper Mill, a paper
and pulp producer in West Java; PT Sari Morawa, a paper factory
in North Sumatra; and PT Sico, a paint factory in North Sumatra.

None of these companies were available for comment yesterday.

Emmy Hafild, Walhi's special program coordinator, said
Bapedal's incidental sampling of a factory's waste water should
be complemented with regular sampling in a certain period of
time, and input from locals.

People who live near factories along rivers, she said, "know
best whether a plant consistently operates its waste water
equipment."

"How do we know a plant actually operates its equipment when
Bapedal officers are not taking samples?" she said.

"Given its limitations, Bapedal's evaluation program is a good
start," Emmy said.

A lawyer at the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute said
environmental cases do not stand up in court even with stronger
data than Bapedal's evaluations.

"Bapedal's study would not account for anything," said Andik
Hardiyanto who heads the Office's division of environment and
land disputes.

Walhi's lawsuit against three companies charged of polluting
the Surabaya River is supported by a study conducted by
government and non-government experts from 1993 to 1995.

The lawsuit filed at the Surabaya District Court in May was
rejected in December "on the classic grounds that the
environmental law does not have implementation rules," Andik told
the Post by telephone.

"We have appealed to the East Java High Court," he said. (anr)