Tangerang warns polluters
Written by Writer on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Tangerang warns polluters
Multa Fidrus , The Jakarta Post , Tangerang | Tue, 11/11/2008 10:55 AM | City
Tangerang regency has put the names of at least 10 manufacturing companies on its red list, saying they have irresponsibly dumped their untreated liquid and solid waste into residential areas.
“The 10 companies have polluted the environment with the waste they recklessly disposed of. This certainly threatens the health of residents living around the factories,” Odang Masduki, head of the regency’s environmental body (BLH) said Monday.
BLH also reported the companies to the central government for further legal prosecution, as they violated a 2007 law on environmental management, he added.
BLH recently conducted marathon checks into some 150 factories operating in the regency and found 10 companies they allege are violating the law.
“We also discovered that most of the factories we examined have not extended their environmental impact analysis (Amdal) document,” he said, adding that all manufacturing firms are obliged to regularly update the document.
Improper waste treatment at several industrial firms had caused the decline of water quality flowing through the Cisadane river, which Tangerang residents used for daily needs, he added.
“We have warned the factories and if they make no changes within the next three months we will ask the Banten provincial administration and the State Minister for the Environment to take stern measures against them,” he said.
However, Odang refused to announce the names of the manufacturing companies. He said only the minister’s office was authorized to make such announcements and only after a thorough investigation of the alleged polluters.
He said BLH also put a number of factories on its yellow list for committing minor violations, including the late extension of their Amdal document, which should be upgraded every six months.
Amdal documents include an analysis of the environmental impact of an activity and the planning of both its environmental management and monitoring. To comply with a 1999 government regulation on Amdal, the process has to involve the communities affected by the activity.
