Pertamina urged to settle sea pollution in Dumai

Riau province's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) in Dumai has warned the local office of the state oil company Pertamina to take an immediate action against the sea water pollution allegedly caused by its old oil tankers.

The head of the commission D of the province's legislative council (DPRD), Taufiqurrahman said in Dumai on Wednesday that the council and Bapedalda would bring the case to Pertamina's headquarters in Jakarta if the local office of the state oil company did not take a serious attention on the pollution charge.

He said that as the pollution in the Lubukgaung sea in Bengkalis regency was obiviously caused by oil spills coming from Pertamina's old oil tankers parked in the local sea, the local office of Pertamina should take the responsibility to settle the probblem.

"We don't want to hear any unrealistic reason any more from the local office of Pertamina," he said.

The local office of Pertamina admitted that the Lubukgaung sea has been contaminated by oil spills from Pertamina's old oil tankers but it denied responsibility on the ground that the old oil tankers were directly overseen by the state oil company's headquarters in Jakarta. (*).