"There are six companies in East Java Province we are going to bring to justice. We need to do so to make other industries afraid of destroying the environment," Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said here on Tuesday.
All the six companies were engaged in fish canning industry, he said.
The companies had been twice found failing to carry out a so-called corporate performance rating assessment program in the environment management (Proper) or had been put under a "black" category, he said.
The companies put under the "black" category were those carrying out the program less than 50 percent in all phases of assessment. The other categories used in the assessment program were "gold", "green" and "blue", he said.
The environmental performance assessed in the program covered control of water and air contamination, management of toxic and hazardous substances, and application of environmental impact management analysis (Amdal), he said.
In the 2009-2010 period, a total of 690 companies had their environmental performance assessed. The companies consisted of 258 engaged in the manufacturing sector, 201 in the mining and oil/gas sector and 16 in the industrial estate and waste treatment service sector, he said.
Based on the results of the assessment, only two of the companies received "gold" ratings, 54 "green" ratings, 435 "blue" ratings and 47 "black" ratings.
The ministry would verify the companies put under the "black" category. The results of verification would determine the level of administrative sanctions to be imposed on them, he said.
"We will go ahead with our plan to bring the companies to justice despite many oppositions like what has happened to the Jakarta coastal reclamation," he said.
(T.D016/Uu.S012/HAJM/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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