Govt obliges miners to secure environmental permit

By Adianto P. Simamora

After years of delay, the government finally issued regulation requiring all businesses including coal and mineral miners to secure environmental permit before doing business in the country.

The Government Regulation Number 27/2012 on Environmental Permit signed on February 23 stipulates business activities with both significant and insignificant impacts on the environment should obtain the environmental permit.

Environmental permits can be issued by the ministry, governors, regents or mayors, depending on the scale of a project and the location of the companies' operation. The environment ministry is responsible for issuing permits to companies operating in more than one province or to businesses dealing with security affairs.

Project developers must first obtain an environmental impact analysis document (Amdal) to obtain an environmental permit. The 2009 environmental law stipulates that environmental permit is a requirement for obtaining and maintaining a business license.

Editing David Mustakim