Speaking up: Indigenous community members, nickel mine workers and their families protesting in Kawe Island, Raja Ampat Regency, southwest Papua. Local scrutiny of the nickel sector is intensifying, particularly since a protest against nickel mining in Raja Ampat – a marine protected area internationally renowned for biodiversity – gained wide traction on social media. — AFP
THE country plans to punish companies for alleged environmental breaches at a huge industrial park that accounts for a large slice of its nickel output, casting a cloud over some of the nation’s largest suppliers.
Environmental violations have been found at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, known as IMIP, according to the Environment Ministry.
Among them, there were alleged failures to manage wastewater, air pollution and use of unlicensed tailing areas, it said.
Nickel is a metal vital to the global energy transition given its role in batteries, and output from South-East Asia’s largest economy is a key part of that push.
The government’s move marks rare action against the local industry, which accounts for more than half of global production.
Possible penalties on IMIP – which houses a large number of smelters – could include fines for companies proven to have violated laws, Deputy for Environmental Law Enforcement Rizal Irawan said in a statement, without giving details.
An audit of the entire industrial area will also be ordered, he added.
A spokesperson for IMIP said efforts to improve the environment in the park area continued and it would maximise supervision of companies there to ensure they complied with the Environment Ministry’s directives.
IMIP, spanning 2,000ha on Sulawesi Island, employs more than 100,000 staff and contractors.
Local scrutiny of the sector is intensifying, particularly since a protest against nickel mining in Raja Ampat – a marine protected area internationally renowned for biodiversity – gained wide traction on social media.
During its supervision of IMIP, the Environment Ministry alleged 24 sources of air pollution that have not installed continuous-emissions monitoring systems, it said in the statement.
The park also lacks a communal wastewater treatment plant, which resulted in pollution.
The spokesperson for IMIP said 58 emissions-monitoring systems are in place and more are being installed.
They added that there were topographical constraints on installing a centralised communal wastewater treatment plant and that companies managed systems independently. — Bloomberg
