President allows Lapindo to dump hotmud into the sea

President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono has finally approved a plan to dump hotmud from Lapindo Brantas' faulty exploration well in Sidoarjo, East Java into the river and sea as the alternative to cope with the massive mud flows which have flooded hundreds of hectares of rice fields and residential areas near the exploration well, Media Indonesia reported Thursday.

The approval was made during a meeting on Wednesday between the President and Chief minister for people's welfare Aburizal Bakrie, State Minister of Environmental Affairs Rahmat Witoelar, Minister of Industry Fahmi Idris, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro and East Java Governor Imam Utomo in the Presidential palace on Wednesday.

Imam Utomo said that the President allowed to dump the hotmud into the river and sea on condition that the mud should be first processed and neutralized from poisonous and hazardous substances in the water treatment.

Meanwhile State Minister of Environmental Affairs, Rahmat Witoelar, said that the hotmud would be dumped into the river and sea only after the existing water embankments were no longer able to handle the mudflows.

Lapindo said that it was installing a 50-cm diameter pipes on 20-km pipeline network to dump the mud into the water sea in the Madura Strait. The mud would be first processed in the water treatment plants before being channeled through the pipe into the sea. (*)