Miners criticize new industrial waste regulation

Mining companies have strongly criticized the government?s recent move to impose a stricter standard in the processing of liquid industrial waste, saying the new standard will pose a heavy burden to their mining operations.

Administration manager of Kalimantan-based coal mining company PT Adaro Indonesia describes the new regulation, which was issued in 2001 but being implemented only recently, as unrealistic.

With the new system, the processing of illiquid industrial waste would be very costly, he said, adding that if the government continued to implement the new regulation, many companies might close their operations for being unable to meet the stricter standard in their industrial waste treatment.

Deputy State Minister of Environmental Affairs, Isa Karmisa Ardiputra, acknowledged that the standard in the processing of liquid industrial waste under the new regulation is much stricter than those stated in the previous regulation.

"The new regulation was issued to comply with the autonomy law, and in line with the government?s intention to change river as the main water resource," he was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia.

He said that mining companies? concerns on the implementation of the new regulation were merely due to their misunderstanding on the minimum level of the toxic substance in the liquid industrial waste dumped by mining companies into the river.(*)