West Kutai administration mulls over halting Trubaindo?s operation

West Kutai regency administration in East Kalimantan is mulling over halting the operation of PT Trubaindo Coal Mining, a subsidiary of Thai energy giant Banpu Plc, for allegedly polluting water of Lawa River which has caused the demise of numerous fish, skin disease and diarrhea, Investor Daily reported Monday. .

?We are studying the possibility of temporarily halting (the operation of Trubaindo) to meet local residents? aspiration and expectation. I am trying to coordinate with the Regent. We will make a decision today in a meeting involving representatives of the West Kutai regency administration,? said West Kutai?s deputy regent Didik Effendi.

?So, this (the incident) is not caused by an explosion of coal facility like what happened in Lapindo?s oil and gas well in East Java. What happened is the waste water coming from the coal processing facility had overflowed it, flowing to Lawa River and allegedly polluting it," he added.

Local administration would invite an independent environmental team to conduct an environmental impact analysis (amdal) ?If (in the analysis) there is no evidence of the pollution found, PT Trubaindo will be permitted to resume operation,? he said.

Meanwhile, Banpu?s communication manager Ina Santi said that the company had yet to give comments on the issue, especially in regards to the cause of the incident (the overflow of waste water). ?The case is now under investigation and I have not received an updated report and so we have yet to know whether it is a purely human error or caused by a natural factor,? she said.

However, she said, all mining activities conducted by Banpu always tried to comply with the existing regulations and procedures. ?If we had not complied with these (regulations and procedures), we might not have been given a permit by the government,? she added.

Trubaindo started commercial production in 2005, with production capacity of 1.76 million tons. (*)