FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Indonesian activists prepare to sue PTTEP unit over Montara spill

Indonesian activists prepare to sue PTTEP unit over Montara spill

Indonesians who live and work in the southern part of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province can only recall the heyday when they sailed into the clean open sea, caught many fish and cultivated fresh seaweed.


Their fortunes changed in August 2009 when an oil platform owned by PTTEP Australasia in the Montara field off Australia’s north coast exploded, leaking 2,000 barrels of oil a day and polluting the Timor Sea and nearby waters.
A number of fishermen in Kupang, the provincial capital, said their catches had drastically dropped because southern waters that border immediately with Australia have been polluted with oil, so bottom-dwelling fish have migrated away.
“The fishermen have been searching for fish in the north of Timor Island around Batek Island and the Alor island chain and its surroundings over the past year,” said Simon Lakona, who earns his living catching bottom-dwelling fish.
“Fish resources in the south of NTT have dropped drastically. Fishermen even have to become construction labourers because their catches have dropped up to 90 per cent,” he added.
Lakona said a large number of seaweed farmers in Kupang and Rote Ndao, a regency on one of NTT southern islands, were also facing economic failure after the oil explosion and none of them were farming seaweed now.
Semin Polin, village chief of Kuanheun in West Kupang district, said: “I still recall the heyday of seaweed production when people could earn between 15 million and 30 million rupiah [Bt50,000-Bt100,000] each harvest. However, none of them grow seaweed now because of harvest failure.”
According to the West Timor Care Foundation (YPTB), the oil spill has caused ecological damage in the Timor Sea and Indonesian waters, covering the south of Timor Island, the Sawu Sea, Kupang coasts, Rote, Kupang, Sabu, Sumba and other waters in NTT.
“Seaweed production and catches of bottom- and surface-dwelling fish have dropped by up to 80 per cent over the past three years. [This] has caused coastal communities to suffer from economic failure after the oil spill polluted Indonesian waters,” YPTB director Ferdi Tanoni said.
YPTB, along with its network in Indonesia, Australia, East Timor and the United States, plans to file a lawsuit at the Australian Federal Court before August 21 against PTTEP Australasia. The legal measures were taken after the company failed to pay compensation for the impact of the oil spill since August 21, 2009.
“According to Australian laws, a case is deemed to have expired after three years, so YPTB and its networks will file the lawsuit before August 21. Our legal advisers have prepared lawsuit materials and will register at the Australian Federal Court before the case expires,” Tanoni said.
The lawsuit consists of two parts. The first seeks compensation for material damages amounting to 16.59 trillion rupiah for ecological damage in the Timor Sea and Indonesian waters.
The second part of the suit demands that PTTEP Australasia hire an independent team comprising scientists from Indonesia, Australia, East Timor and the US to conduct research to determine the impacts of the pollution in a scientific, transparent and accountable manner.
To support the lawsuit, YPTB has received powers of attorney to represent six regions in NTT, namely Kupang municipality and Kupang and the regencies of South Central Timor, North Central Timor, Belu and Rote Ndao.
Tanoni said that based on initial research by a number of scientists, about 98 per cent of the oil spill contaminated the Timor Sea and Indonesian waters with lead and the toxic solvent Corexit 9500.

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