Jakarta – The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) is suing gas exploration company PT Lapindo Brantas over the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.
The green group filed a civil suit at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday, accusing Lapindo of violating the 1997 Law on the Environment.
In the suit, Walhi also states that it is also holding the President, the minister for energy and mineral resources, the state minister for the environment, Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator BP Migas, the East Java governor and the Sidoarjo regent accountable for the mudflow.
Walhi is seeking financial compensation, money that will be used to stop the mudflow and fix the massive environmental destruction wrought by the disaster.
"The plaintiffs must recover the damaged environment so that it can function the way it did prior to the catastrophic sludge," Walhi executive director Chalid Muhammad said in a statement on Monday. Walhi states in the suit that the mudflow has displaced 8,200 people living in eight villages in Sidoarjo regency.
Hundreds of hectares of farmland have been destroyed, and dozens of factories have been forced to close. The greatest victim, however, has been the ecosystem along the Porong River and the Sidoarjo Delta.
Despite most of the blame for the mudflow falling on Lapindo, which is accused of causing it by drilling an exploratory gas well in the area, none of its executives have been arrested.
So far, police have held only six people responsible for the mudflow, arresting two Lapindo employees and four officials from Lapindo subcontractor PT Medici Citra Nusantara.
Eight months after the mud first spewed out of the drilling site there is no sign that it will stop at any time in the near future.
While a national team was assembled to find a solution to the problem, their efforts have been futile. Sludge from the site has spilled into the Porong river and is kept behind an ever-expanding embankment.
The team is now attempting to shut down the mud volcano that is believed to be the source of the flow with giant concrete balls. Some geologists have said that it may be impossible to stop the mudflow as there is no way of knowing what triggered it.
It has also been suggested that the government may be able to use the flow as a source of geothermal energy or the mud itself to make bricks.