“Let me die here. There is no use for me to stay alive. Chevron does not care about my land. The company is very cruel.”
- Words yelled by Mr Darmiadi in an attempted suicide from a Chevron electricity tower, September 14, 2009.[345]
Today, Chevron, through its Chevron Pacific Indonesia (CPI) subsidiary (formerly Caltex Pacific Indonesia), is Indonesia’s largest oil producer, with total daily production averaging 477,000 barrels of oil and 611 million cubic feet of natural gas in 2010.[348] Chevron’s Indonesian operations include oil, natural gas and geothermal power-generation.
Chevron Gets an Award in 2010!
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| TATA HAIRA |
| Spilled oil resulting from an October 2010 oil pipeline explosion in Manggala Jonson Village. Two local girls suffered burn wounds in the explosion. |
Chevron's Oil Pipeline: A Time-Bomb for Local People
On October 28 2010, CPI’s oil pipeline exploded in Manggala Jonson Village, Tanah Putih Sub District, District Rokan Hilir, Riau Province. Two girls, six-year old Wanda and 16-year old Rini, suffered burn wounds.Local community member Mr. Yunus said that both girls suffered burn wounds because they were covered with hot crude oil from the exploded pipe. Mr. Yunus added that the incident initially sounded like a bomb blast. After recovering from their initial shock, the local community realized that the pipe had exploded and was spurting oil 10 meters high. When the incident happened, a motorbike owned by a local community member was thrown a distance of 15 meters.[355]
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TATA HAIRA
Spilled oil resulting from the 2010 pipeline explosion
in Manggala Jonson Village. |
According to Mr. Yunus, Chevron and its heavy equipment team came two hours after the explosion to repair the pipe.[357]
A Waste Ditch Overflowed, Local Community Houses Flooded
Also in 2010, local communities in the Rumbai Coastal area complained that their houses were continually flooded due to the overflow of a Chevron waste ditch. The coordinator of the Rumbai Community and Rumbai Coastal area reported this to the police on February 27, 2010. The community has suffered from serious skin problems, but Chevron has not paid any attention.The Head of the Local Parliament Commission, Aswendi, said that Chevron had promised to clean the ditch. “Obviously, this is Chevron’s responsibility. When we called them (to the Local Parliament House), they promised to undertake dredging to avoid flooding into the community neighborhood. If flooding happens, we will call them again,” said Aswendi.[358]
Mr. Hanafi Kadir, Communications Manager of Chevron Pacific Indonesia said, “this (the flood) is not merely caused by shallowed drainage, but also because of the development impact. There is no more water catchment area. We admit that probably the drainage got shallowed but we have done dredging.”[359]
Land Seizure
On October 25, 2010, seventy-five community members joined the Rantau Bais Terpadu peasant group for a demonstration at the gate to Batang Field, owned by Chevron Pacific Indonesia. For two days, the demonstrators cut off the gate to the oil field on land the company had seized for exploration and exploitation. They hung a banner urging Chevron Pacific Indonesia to leave immediately and they set up a tent in the middle of the road, stopping all vehicles that attempted to go into the location. The demonstration was conducted peacefully, although hundreds of police were equipped with rifles and hand guns.“Chevron has seized 130 hectares of our land since 2003, even though there are 65 claimants’ letters for the land,” said Masran Djasid, coordinator of community. “There are still 130 out of 600 hectares for which the company has not yet provided compensation. But Chevron has built dozens of oil pumps. Since 2005 Chevron has not displayed any goodwill. In fact, the community conducted a demonstration in February 2010, and sent a complaint to the Head of the District, the Governor, and even the National Parliament. But there has been no solution and the company has been violating its own map.”[360]
Currently, the state-owned Executive Agency for Upstream Oil and Gas (BPMIGAS) is investigating the land conflict between the villagers of Rantau Bais and Chevron. “The legal department of BPMIGAS is studying the conflict. And, in fact, we suspect that there is some land that has not been paid for yet,” said Elan Biantoro, Head of Public Relations for BPMIGAS.[361]
According to the company, Chevron has paid 8.6 billion rupiah (approximately US$ 1 million) for compensation for an area of 457.19 hectares, which consisted of 296 claimants. The company rejected 65 claimants because they were not included the 457.19 hectares.[362] This statement has been criticized by the community, which maintains that the company uses 600 hectares of land. Chevron is violating its own map, says the community.
Since Chevron has not responded to the community’s concerns, the community organized another blockade on November 25, 2010. Arifin Ahmad, Secretary of the Peasant Group Rantau Bais Terpadu, said, “We are forced to blockade the road again because so far Chevron has not been willing to pay compensation for our land.”[363] He added that the community will stay there to maintain the blockade until there is significant change in Chevron Pacific Indonesia’s position. Arifin stated, “If there is no change in Chevron’s position, we will stay here.”[364]
WALHI, together with other networks and the local communities, will continue to end the environmental, social and economic destruction in Riau, and in other provinces in Indonesia.
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