Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – A coalition of environmental groups is urging the government to revise a draft regulation on toxic waste management, saying some articles might legitimize environmental degradation.
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice (Kiara), the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) and the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) suspect some big companies have played a role in drafting the regulation.
The draft regulation is currently under discussion at the Environment Ministry.
Article 20 of the draft regulation stipulates that the environment minister is authorized to declare any waste clean if scientific research says so. Thus, the waste is taken out of the hazardous and toxic category.
In addition, Article 55 does not compel companies to seek permits for the management of hazardous and toxic waste as long as they recycle and reuse them based on the national standard, which will later be set by the Environment Ministry.
"We find some articles, such as articles 20, 55 and 94, problematic. Those articles are detrimental to the environment as they don't compel companies to properly manage their waste," Walhi executive director Berry Nahdian Forqan recently told The Jakarta Post.
"These articles will open chances for suspicious lobbying between companies and the ministry. They can even lead to companies avoiding responsibility over the management of their toxic waste. Article 55 is also confusing as it does not require companies to seek disposal permits as long as they recycle and reuse their waste.
"How could [hazardous and toxic] waste be easily considered 'not harmful' only by changing its outer package?"
Berry said that Article 94 would allow PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) to continue dumping mining waste into the sea. The article allows dumping waste into sea waters more than 100 meters deep.
"We suspect this particular article is made to legitimize the Environment Ministry's controversial policy of extending the permit for PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara to continue dumping its mining tailings into the Senunu bay, endangering marine life," he said.
Walhi and other environmental groups have filed a lawsuit demanding the overturning of the permit. The Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) is scheduled to hand down its ruling in early April.
PT NNT, a subsidiary of the US-based Newmont Corporation, has been dumping mining tailings into the bay since 1999, in accordance with a license issued by the Environment Ministry.
Activists have long warned the government not to extend the permit allowing Newmont to dump mining tailings into the bay, saying it endangered marine life.
But the Environment Ministry renewed the permit on May 5 last year, arguing that PT NNT controlled the composition of its tailings far better than the government required it to.
Separately, the Deputy Environment Minister for hazardous and toxic waste management, Masnelly, has denied that the regulation had been drafted to favor PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara or any other relevant company.