Shrimp farmers, fishermen suffer losses due to Unocal's oil pollution
Cows which drank water in the area also died
Monday, March 13 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Shrimp farmers and fishermen in Santan Beach in Kutai district, East Kalimantan, have lost most of their daily income as the water where they fish for money has been polluted by oil flowing from PT Unocal Indonesia's port.
We could not even sell fresh fish, because they have oil aroma," said Ramli, coordinator of Mining Network Advocacy (JATAM)'s East Kalimantan branch after meeting with the head of the province's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) last weekend.
Ramli said the leaked oil did not only kill shrimp and fish in the sea but also kill a number of plantations along the beach, including mangroves.
"Tens of cows which drank water in the area also died," he said.
A number of independent researches by the province's branch office of Ministry of Health, the University of Mulawarman, and Kutai's environmental bureau showed that the water pollution caused by Unocal's oil leakage was serious, but no significant actions had been taken by the company. Instead, the company had taken repressive approach to tame local people, Ramli said.
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