Bapedal asked to pressure oil companies over environmental problem

Tarakan Mayor Yusuf SK asked the Environmental Impact Supervisory Agency or popularly called Bapedal to put a pressure on oil companies operating in the area because of environmental destruction.

Kompas daily quoted Yusuf as saying that the oil drilling operation in Tarakan, East Kalimantan, has produced thousands of barrel of liquid waste materials called sludge which is considered as toxic and hazardous.

Yusuf was speaking in a dialogue session with Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf last week. Sonny also heads the Bapedal office.

Yusuf said that the disposal of waste materials from oil drilling in the Tarakan area has been going for more than a hundred years since the Dutch Colonial rule.

The paper said that most of the oil well in the Tarakan area is operated by Exspan.(*)