ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Shrimp pond owners are resigned to losing their livelihood from the government's plan to directly dump hot mudflow into a local river from the gas exploration well disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java.

Farmers from Jabon district fear dumping of the mud without treatment to remove any toxic materials will decimate their shrimp stocks.

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto has said that the work would begin in a matter of days, with mud directed to Porong River using pumps, and the river current then carrying the mud to the sea.

Since the hot, foul-smelling mud began spewing from the gas exploration site operated by Lapindo Brantas Inc. on May 29, more than 10,000 people from nine villages in two districts have been displaced from their homes. It has inundated 450 hectares, 18 schools and 20 factories.

Shrimp farmer Muchtar said his colleagues felt trapped in a hopeless situation. "If President SBY himself has also agreed to the plan, who else dares to defend shrimp pond workers?" Muchtar said, referring to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who approved the plan Wednesday.

Local shrimp pond workers say the effects of the mudflow have already been felt on the 7,000 hectares of ponds in Sidoarjo. "Even before the dumping, seeping water from the mudflow area had caused the shrimps and fish in the ponds to die. The condition will surely worsen if the mud is dumped directly," Muchtar said.

He predicted the dumping would put an end to fish and shrimp farming in Sidoarjo, with losses amounting to trillions of rupiah because the rental of each pond costs from Rp 90 million (US$9,473) to Rp 150 million annually.

It does not include the costs for breeding which reached hundreds of million of rupiah per annum, he said. "Who will compensate all of that, Lapindo or the government?"

The National Mudflow Mitigation team has transported three mud pump units from Batam in Riau Islands province and Jakarta in order to enable it to start dumping the mud on Oct. 5. The pumps have a combined capacity to move 25,000 cubic meters of mud per day.

Based on research by the Marine Geological Research and Development Center, officials claim the dumping of the mud into Porong River is a feasible solution because the flow of the riverwater is much greater than the volume of mud.

But as well as the huge material losses from the swamping of homes, factories and a section of turnpike, there is the human toll. Consternation has greeted a proposal to move some of the displaced people to outer islands, like the Riau Islands or Kalimantan.

"The displaced people will surely oppose the idea because it could be interpreted as driving them away as transmigrants," said Ahmad Novi, a resident of inundated Jatirejo village, who is staying at Porong market. "What will we do there, and how about the side businesses that we have developed?"

Muhammad Saiful Aris, director of the Surabaya chapter of the Legal Aid Institute, said that the government's plan to relocate them could be revoked if the local people filed a legal injunction.

However, it may be difficult because of the people's lack of means and awareness of taking legal action, Aris said. "The people are usually put in a losing position, but if they want to, they can do it (file suit)," he said.