Tunggadewa Mattangkilang – Authorities in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, revoked the permits of two coal-mining firms based on an evaluation of their environmental credentials, but activists have criticized the move as meaningless.

Deputy Mayor Nusyirwan Ismail said on Wednesday that the evaluation involved dozens of mining companies operating in the area, and was carried out by the municipal mining and environmental protection agencies.

Bumi Batuah and Prima Coal Mining had their permits rescinded, while four other companies had their permits suspended, pending further evaluation. "We revoked the licenses of two of the companies after finding that they were destroying the ecosystem and failed to post a land-reclamation deposit," Nusyirwan said.

The deposit is mandatory for companies operating in the forestry sector and is used to restore any land that is damaged.

Nusyirwan added that the two companies will still be liable for rehabilitating the degraded land within their concessions. Failing to do so could result in prosecution. "If they don't comply by rehabilitating the land, we will report the matter to the police and prosecutors," he said.

The move, however, was dismissed by environmental activists as political showboating by the Samarinda administration.

Kahar Al Bahri, provincial chairman of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), pointed out that Bumi Batuah and Prima Coal Mining had shut down operations in that area several months ago. "Revoking their permits was moot," Kahar said. "The evaluation won't do anything about the environmental impact from mining in Samarinda."

Kahar added that a more effective move would have been to revoke the permits of seven mining firms currently embroiled in disputes with residents.

Coal mining concessions account for 32,000 hectares, or 46 percent, of Samarinda's total area of 71,000 hectares, according to Jatam.