Vannessa Hearman
Australian company Santos is a shareholder in an energy concession in East Java that has been the source of hot toxic mud flows following a well-head accident in May. The accident occurred near Porong, a small town close to the provincial capital of Surabaya.
A five-metre-high dam was built as an emergency measure to contain the 500 cubic metres of mud flowing out of the gas well each day. On August 10, the dam overflowed, damaging rail lines and homes and threatening to put the Surabaya-Jakarta rail line out of action. Houses and government offices were knee-deep in mud.
Nine people have been charged under Indonesia's penal code and environmental laws. However on August 3, House of Representatives speaker HR Agung Laksono and chief of the Indonesian Supreme Court Bagir Manan called for an end to any legal proceedings in the case. In a joint press release issued on August 10, human rights and environmental groups including WALHI and Imparsial condemned the political interference from the two leaders. The statement urged that police investigations continue and that the government take a clear position in dealing with the aftermath of the disaster.
Prior to breaching the dam, the mud flow had already affected 25 square kilometres of land and displaced more than 10,000 people. Agricultural lands are damaged and the major highway between Surabaya — Indonesia's second-largest city — and the southern areas of the province has had to be rerouted. The local aquaculture industry, a staple of the area's economy, is also devastated, as the hot mud containing the toxic hydrogen sulphide flows into fish ponds.
The Brantas Production Sharing Contract area is exploited by several gas and oil companies. The disaster first occurred when Lapindo Brantas, a company with a 50% share of the contract, began drilling. This produced cracks in the Earth's surface and a mud flow that has continued since May. In its statement, Santos, which owns an 18% share in the venture, promised to "monitor response efforts closely". Another Australian company, Century Resources, was contracted in July as part of the "response efforts" to close the well. Santos also has interests in fields in the Java Sea off the coast of East Java.
The Bakrie Group, an Indonesian family-based conglomerate, has majority shares in Lapindo Brantas. Aburizal Bakrie, one of Indonesia's richest people, is also the minister for people's welfare in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cabinet. Company director and the minister's brother Niwan Bakrie promised that the Bakrie family would compensate all losses.
Santos, in a media release on June 27, claimed that it "maintains appropriate insurance cover" for such incidents. Those displaced are being accommodated in a temporary shelter and receiving a pittance to live on. Rice fields are being used as dumping areas for the toxic mud. On August 10, environment minister Rachmat Witoelar rejected a proposal to plough the toxic mud into the sea.
However since then, with no sign of the mud flow abating, environment minister Rachmat Witoelar has revised his stance. He told a community gathering on August 22 that purification plants from Australia would be positioned at the well-head to separate the fluids from solids before pumping the fluids into the sea, north of Surabaya. The minister assured those present that fish ponds would not be affected, as the outlet would be located 4-5 kilometres out to sea. The solids would still need to be accommodated by taking over people's previously arable lands.
Witoelar has tried to convince the community that "the mud contains many beneficial elements", including the mineral zeolite, and that the mud is only "low-toxic". He likened low toxicity in great quantities to "an aeroplane falling on your head, but you would be fine, whereas cyanide would kill you even in low quantities".
WALHI and other organisations demanded on August 22 that the shareholders, board of directors and management of Lapindo Brantas be made accountable for the "ecological crime and human rights abuse" in this case. They demand that the Indonesian government not allow the company to escape its obligations by ceasing to trade. They also accord responsibility to the State Regulatory Body for Oil and Gas and the energy minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, for failing to do their jobs.