Indominco must be responsible for ammonium nitrate pollution: NGOs
Thursday, November 8 2001 - 02:04 AM WIB
Coal mining firm PT Indominco Mandiri must be held responsible for the spill out of ammonium nitrate chemical material into the Mahakam River in East Kalimantan, according to JATAM, an NGO specializing in mining sector, and Walhi, specializing in environmental issues.
The local Kaltim Post daily quoted on Wednesday executives of the two prominent NGOs as saying that Indominco must also make an apology to the public. The NGOs, however, did not specify whether the company should pay a kind of compensation or other forms of sanction.
They said that this was not the first time Indominco had polluted the local environment.
As had been reported earlier, some 480 tons of ammonium nitrate had spilled out into the waters o the Mahakam River when the chemical materials were being unloaded at the Samarinda Port. Indominco imported the chemical materials.(*)