Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Mine operators across the country are failing to make amends for the environmental destruction that they wreak, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Center for Environmental Law said its study showed that miners largely lacked commitment in carrying out the mandatory rehabilitation of mined land and mitigation efforts to address the environmental and social impact from their operations.

Using the province of East Kalimantan as a case study, ICEL showed that 11,500 of the 20,500 hectares of mining concessions in the area had not been rehabilitated by the concession holders.

It also showed that 19 holders of the last 76 mining permits issued there had not set up mandatory funds for rehabilitation and post-mining mitigation efforts.

"These funds actually serve as indicators of each company's commitment to the environment," said Dyah Paramita, a researcher with ICEL. "This funding is also meant to ease the burden on the local administration and central government in the event of any [impact] from the mining activities."

Dyah said ICEL's study compared Indonesian mining regulations to those in the United States. She added the findings did not reflect well on Indonesia, highlighting the lack of public involvement and transparency in the issue.

"We're having difficulty finding the exact amount of money allocated for rehabilitation because the local administrations refuse to disclose the figures," Dyah said.

"In the United States, however, you can use the Internet to track down the allocation of the money, the amount and even the areas designated for rehabilitation and post-mining practices."

She said the US government had also set up an Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund that taxed mining companies 35 cents per ton of coal from open-pit mines and 15 cents from underground seams.

"The AMRF serves as backup funding to rehabilitate abandoned or degraded land, instead of using federal or state budgets," Dyah said. "That's different from here, where we use the state budget to rehabilitate previously mined land."

Carolus Tuah, coordinator of Pokja 30 Samarinda, a civil society based in the East Kalimantan capital, said the rehabilitation programs carried out by miners there were of questionable merit.

"For instance, they fill up a mine shaft with water, toss in a few fish spawn and then call it a fish pond," he said. "Or they'll build entertainment facilities in areas that used to be mining sites," he added. "These very dangerous areas then become popular tourist sites. It should be about rehabilitating the land, they should be planting trees there."