Businesses Are Not Handling Indonesia’s Massive Community-Destroying Oil Spill Well

This article originally appeared on VICE Indonesia.

This article is part of a wider initiative by VICE looking at the state of the environment around the globe. In Asia-Pacific, each VICE office is examining the main concerns from their territory, in an effort to gauge the health of the planet as a whole and to highlight the widespread need for change. For other stories in this series, please check out Environmental Extremes .

This report by our staff writer Adi Renaldi is about the Pertamina oil spill and allegations of poor oil spill management raised by locals. It is part 2 in a two-part series. Part 1 explored risks locals face while cleaning toxic waste from beaches.

Until the spill occurred, Karawang was a tourist haven rich with mangroves and pristine beaches. Locals developed the area’s tourism industry, with many relying on it as a source of income. It was also a hub for fishermen. Now, the 95-kilometer coastline is an oily mess.

Following the spill, Pertamina began employing local residents, who had just been stripped of their livelihoods, to clean the hazardous sludge from the beaches. But they were provided with minimal protective gear, with no measures in place to address their health concerns.

The sludge from the spill is a B3 type waste, meaning it’s hazardous and toxic. It must be processed in accordance with strict regulations from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHP). One of the fundamental procedures in handling such waste is that it must be stored in metal drums or flexible polypropylene containers. Every truck that transports these containers must have a warning label.

This hazardous waste has begun killing marine life and seeping into locals’ saltwater ponds, significantly affecting the main source of income for many fishermen.

Karawang, which used to be a popular holiday destination, is now devoid of tourists, affecting shop owners who previously catered to them. Its abundant 38-square kilometer mangroves were also destroyed.

Based on data from Pertamina, which has dispatched 3,000 personnel to the field, they have collected 6,390 barrels worth of oil as of Aug. 15. On average, they collect 400 barrels a day on trucks covered with a tarp.

A truck driver I met told me the B3 waste is transported to a waste processing facility in the city of Bogor. Other drivers said the facility is in Bekasi, while residents believe it’s in East Karawang. Some locals believe that the waste is incinerated or converted into solar energy but the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) cannot confirm what is done with the waste due to lack of information. This confusion shows Pertamina’s lack of transparency when it comes to its waste management.

I attempted to contact the waste management facilities mentioned by the truck drivers. Four are located in Bekasi, one is in Bogor, and two are in Karawang. The four facilities in Bekasi claimed that they had nothing to do with the waste from the spill, while the one in Bogor refused to comment.

“We have transported nearly 11,000 tonnes of contaminated sand,” Semberani told VICE. “In a single day, we can send up to 100 trucks. We do everything in accordance with regulations. If we failed to follow the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s regulations, it could be considered criminal activity.”

Semberani said the trucks are dispatched at Pertamina’s request. In addition to having a contract with Pertamina, the company is also in the business of processing other types of waste and converting them into various commodities.

He said that his company had not violated the processing procedures. “We’re a waste management company, so why would we exist if the waste couldn’t be repurposed in some way? We have to make use of those waste materials,” Semberani said.

Both PT Tenang Jaya Sejahtera, and PT Triguna Pratama refused VICE’s request to visit their factories and observe their waste treatment process.

The two companies don’t exactly have clean track records. In February, non-governmental organisation Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton) suspected that PT Tenang Jaya Sejahtera and seven other companies were involved in the open dumping of hazardous and toxic waste (B3) at the Indonesian Air Force military headquarters in Pasuruan, East Java. The case remains unsolved, despite the KLHP’s plan to summon the eight companies for questioning over the open dumping allegations.

In May 2018, hundreds of local residents protested against PT Triguna Pratama over its poor hazardous and toxic (B3) waste storage practices which were detrimental to their health. Pertamina has refused to comment on the hazardous and toxic (B3) waste treatment.

The Karawang oil spill isn’t the first to happen in Indonesia. In March 2018, 40,000 barrels of oil leaked from Pertamina’s pipelines in Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan after they were snagged by the MV Ever Judger’s anchor, owned by the Panama Ever Judger Holding Company Limited.

Approximately 1,200 residents were affected by this incident. The affected mangrove ecosystems were so contaminated that hundreds of residents tried to clean the trunks using oil wipes.

“We believe there was negligence in their drilling practices. It’s very similar to the mudflow disaster, but [Pertamina] made it seem like it was just an oil spill. It’s, in fact, a crude oil blow-out, so the data must be revealed,” said Johansyah.

Dwi Sawung echoed these sentiments. “They’ve been hiding something. Pertamina refused to give their drilling data to us,” Sawung told VICE. He pointed out that Pertamina’s slow risk management and mitigation process should be questioned, because the incident happened while redrilling an existing well.

“They should have field technical data because it’s an existing well,” he continued. “There wouldn’t be any oil spill if they did it right.”

Elisabeth Glory Victory contributed to this report.