Tony Ng, Jakarta – Greenpeace Indonesia and local communities in Batang, Central Java, have alleged alarmingly high figures for greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants from a coal-fired power plant being built in the district.
At a press conference at their Jakarta office last week, Greenpeace presented residents from villages surrounding the site to reveal the "ugly facts" behind the 2,000-megawatt project, being built at a cost of $4 billion.
Greenpeace said that once the coal power plant went on line, it would release 10.8 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to the entire carbon emissions of Myanmar in 2009. The plant would also release some 226 kilograms of mercury each year into the nearby Ujungnegoro-Roban regional maritime protected area.
This would devastate the thriving local traditional fishing industry, as 0.907 grams of mercury in a 100-square-meter body of water can make fish all the fish in the area unfit to eat, and endanger the livelihoods of more than 100,000 local residents.
The power plant project is backed by a joint venture called Bhimasena Power Indonesia, comprising Adaro Power, which owns a 34 percent stake; J Power, a company linked to the Japanese government and which also has a 34 percent stake; and Itochu, a Japanese trading house that holds the remaining 32 percent.
Indonesian state utility PLN would buy and distribute the power generated by the proposed plant. The project has the backing of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Although construction of the plant was scheduled to start in October 2012, it has not gone ahead due to local resistance, with residents refusing to sell their land, a combined 55 hectares that accounts for 15 to 20 percent of the land needed for the 200-350-hectare plant.
Some residents say they have been threatened and intimidated by gangs and thugs they suspect were hired by the business consortium behind the project.
A man by the name of Nyoto, who lives in nearby Roban village and has operated a fishing boat in the area since 1987, said he and fellow residents were not afraid of the scare tactics being employed against them. "We'll do whatever it takes to stop this plant, we're not afraid of any intimidation," Nyoto said.
What did worry him, he said, were the potential environmental, health and social impacts the plant would have on the local community. "We'll have respiratory problems if the plant is here. They need to think about the children and the future. It's going to be here forever, and forever is a very long time," Nyoto said.
Boy, a fisherman and rice farmer from Roban, agreed that the power plant would have a negative economic impact for people like himself, saying he believed it would wipe out their income and livelihoods.
"[Fishing and farming] will be destroyed," he said. "I get Rp 8 million [$680] per month as a fisherman and Rp 15 million to Rp 30 million for each rice harvest, which is every three months."
Boy said he believed he would earn less if he had to work at the power plant. "I don't even want to think about it," he added.
Rohidi, a teacher from neighboring Karang Geneng village, said that if the project went ahead as planned, it would break up the tight-knit community because the pollution from the factory would make the area uninhabitable. "We would automatically have to move, and I would lose my job," he said.
Arif Fiyanto, Greenpeace Indonesia's team leader for climate and energy campaigns, said the Batang project would not only adversely affect the local community, but would also violate several Indonesian government laws, for instance regarding financial disclosure and protection of marine conservation areas.
He said he believed the government and power companies should tap into clean, renewable energy such as geothermal. Indonesia has 40 percent of known global reserves, or 28,000 MW, but generated just 1,333 MW last year.
Bhimasena Power Indonesia did not respond immediately to requests from the Jakarta Globe for comment.