Mar 28, 2008

Dear Mother of Earth, I trully am sorry for negelcting Lapindo issue lately

Maan... i never gave any attention to Lapindo issues since...since...Walhi (Wahana Lingkungan Hidup) submitted their claim to district court. I did, however, notice that the mud itself has reached the surface in mid 2006, and many houses, villages vanished because of it. The mud has consumed more than 240 hectare, and many people still wind up losing their homes. Infact, it is a major loss to people who live there.


Geologically speaking, as a common people with no basic knowledge in geology, i never know that to penetrate the earth and drill up the oil, the drilling contractor should insert a protective casing to help stabilise it. But i, however, know, there must be something wrong with the standard procedure, either the drilling operator did not equipped the well bore safely or there must be a breaching safety procedures during the process. Apperantly, the basic problem in Lapindo issue was about "the protective casing that has never been inserted during the drilling process in certain depth".


And here now, i suddenly questioning this Lapindo issue...


Well, thanks to my BF who asked me to be his private editor for his final assigment, thus, i have to read the chronology of this case from A to Z, not to mention that i have to read from many side such as law issue, humanity, ecological issue, even the geological setting as well.


Okay, anyway, what i've learned from this case is, there is one fact that never been published by government after all this years.
For about 2 years, people always thought that Lapindo should be fully responsible in the mud incident, since such accidents were caused by Lapindo's activities. Therefore, Lapindo legally obliged to pay such amount for compensation. But people never know that, Lapindo, in this case, DID NOT breach any contract/procedure, based on BP Migas Approval for the "Authorization For Expenditure"/AFE. Based on the drilling procedure, before the drilling operation commence it activity, it needs BP Migas approval for AFE. In this case, in order to reduce the cost, Lapindo did not use the steel casing in some area, wherein the consideration was based on the assumption that in the certain depth the ground was solid enough. It can be assumed that Lapindo, since the beginning has miscalculated the drilling calculation. But, since BP Migas gave its approval for Lapindo in drilling process, therefore, what Lapindo did is in compliance with what was agreed by BP Migas. In this case, BP Migas did not review the Lapindo's calculation carefully, moreover, BP Migas has waived the standard drilling procedure. Yet, people never notice legal things like this... and they always blame to Lapindo for such case.


Anyway, the Jakarta Selatan District Court has decided to reject all Walhi's demand, and such decision was based on law No. 23/1997 (UU pengelolaan lingkungan hidup), and others judges opinion; that what happened in Sidoarjo was a natural disaster/force Major, furthermore BP Migas approved their procedure. What the judges did was purely based from what has written/coded only. They did, however, neglected the unwritten code.


In other hand, the one who has responsibility for this disaster should be Government, regarding that they did give the reckless AFE approval, and moreover, the follow up action that the government did to reduce the mud from burst out apparently did not accordance with "the standard legal action", and it is an appropriate follow up action whereby government decided to "throw" the mud into Porong River. Geee... just "throw" the mud into the river?? What a kind of act is that, really?? I guess we all know that whether the mud contains toxic or not, it is an appropriate act, yet forbidden, for all of us to thrown such mud or waste to rivers... (Bo' coba kalo lu buang air aqua di kali ciliwung, trus ada dirjen lingkungan hidup/pejabat yang bersangkutan kebetulan lewat, bisa-bisa lu di denda 100juta kaleee walo cuma air Aqua... Huh dasar!)


Well, I'm not gonna talk about the further specific legal issue here or the chronology of this case, since you guys will be bored to read my BF's research.. In the mean time, Lapindo's case, however did not finalized yet even though district court sets Lapindo free from any charges. Apparently, Walhi has submitted their appeal to the high court, therefore the struggle of Wahli to seek justice has not final and binding.


oh, in addition, there is another contradiction perspective between Police and District court; the Judges discern that, such event was caused by natural events, while police inspect that this Lapindo's mud was crystal clear caused by the drilling activities. Both judges and police are Indonesian law enforcer who should uphold the law, but both of them have a different point perspective... Jadi yang mana yang bener iki pak...???


As a closing note, i wold like to say DEEPLY SORRY to the Mother of Earth for being such IGNORANT after all this time... but trust me, I never meant to, dear mother...


Refferences:
- www.hukumonline.com
- Law no.23 year 1997
- www.wikipedia.com
- www.eoearth.org
-www.bpmigas.com

4 lullabies from others:

Bijuk said...

ur doing great research on it.
all i could say, it's been too long the victims to be neglected and when money is such an issue, no conscience seems to appear

Miss de Saire said...

Thank's Sylv..
actually, i've been neglecting law issue since i left lawfirm.. jadi malu ex lawyer tapi ketinggalan berita Lapindo.
can't be more agreed with you: money somehow speaks louder than conscience

korban lapindo said...

Hi,
Great post, give me different perspective on the legal aspect of this disaster.
However, few thing still unclear to me. Though i don't know for sure whether LBI had detailed their technical plan in the AFE (did you?) submitted to BP Migas prior to its operation, but based on Medco-LBI affair. As you probably know, Medco filled a complain letter to operator (dated May 18 and June 5), on LBI decision not to install casing on the mud. Was this could only mean that, initially, LBI did mention the use of casing? If in their technical plan, they already decide not to install casing, then, instead of complaining to BP Migas, why Medco filled it to LBI?

Other thing is, Lapindo, being determined not to take it guilty about this disaster, must've been explore and exploit every chances they had, to proved that they're innocent. Then, how on earth this one windfall is missed from their argument?

cheers,


korbanlapindo
korbanlapindo.blogspot.com
korban.lapindo@gmail.com

Miss de Saire said...

Hi pak korban Lapindo (can i call you that since i don't know your real name?), thanks for reading this post and dropped a comment on my blog.

firts, pls note that i only do quick reseach in order to help my BF's assigment. I do understand a lil about legal aspect from such case (oil and exploration), but since i never read this BPMigas approval for LBI technical plan in AFE, nor the contract/MOU of LBI-Medco technical plan, thus i can't assure you whether LBI mentioned clearly about the use of casing or not.
Things that still unclear to me as well is, why on earth Medco sent a letter to LBI wherein accused them of breaching safety procedures during the drilling process for not equipping the well bore with steel casing, while the fact is BP Migas gave their approval for it. That's why i think if we want to clear this thing, we need to review the contracts between Medco-LBI and BPMigas Approval on AFE.
As far as my concerned, this case was just not LBI's responsibility, but more into government resposibility, since UU regulated that "minyak dikuasai oleh negara" and "pembagian hasil produksi minyak antara negara dgn perusahaan swasta adalah 80% banidng 20%. Dan begitu exploitasi komersil dilakukan, tanggung jawab beralih kepada Negara". Correct me if i'm wrong yah..in this case, LBI bukan lagi sebagai perusahaan yg melakukan research-exploring, jadi tanggung jawab bukan berada pada perusahaan ini lagi.

I'm sorry i can't give you more details/facts about this case.. However, I'm still working on my research for dig out this case, but due to the lack of access and time, i can say that it'll take longer than i predict.

If you find another facts, i'll be happy if you could share with me =)

rgds,