Jakarta: A new report into the 2009 Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea has called for a full independent investigation into the scale of the damage in Indonesian waters, saying evidence pointed to a larger environmental and social disaster than has ever been officially acknowledged.
The oil spill – the worst in the history of Australia's offshore petroleum industry – saw PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of Thai state-owned oil company PTTEP, spew oil into the ocean for 74 days, with estimates ranging between 400 and 2000 barrels a day.
Rote seaweed farmer Nikodemus Manefa says the seaweed turned white and fell off the string. Credit: Jewel Topsfield
In an attempt to disperse the oil the Australian Maritime Safety Authority sprayed more than 180,000 litres of dispersants onto the sea's surface.
Some of these dispersants are now known to be toxic according to the report to be launched on Wednesday by the Australian Lawyers Alliance.
Landu village chief Semuel Messak says the disaster destroyed seaweed farming and dwindled fish stock.Credit: Amelia Rosa
More than five years later many questions remain about the effect of the spill on the Indonesian economy and people, the report says, and the lack of remediation or any form of compensation has not been adequately brought to light.
Fishermen and seaweed farmers in Nusa Tenggara Timur – one of Indonesia's poorest and most remote provinces – say they observed an influx of white, waxy pollutants, killing fish and seaweed plots in the weeks after the spill. They say the white "sickness" destroyed their livelihoods and some reported rashes, pus-filled cysts and food poisoning.
"Following the spill, some communities believed that the gods were punishing them, or that Australia was trying to kill them," the After the Spill report says.
It says Indonesia's Centre for Energy and Environmental Studies estimates that the economic loss caused by the Montara oil spill to the fishing and seaweed industries in Nusa Tenggara Timur amounts to about $1.5 billion per year since 2009.
Nikodemus Manefa collects seaweed off the east coast of Rote island last month.Credit: Jewel Topsfield
"Families have experienced desperation, anger, tragedy and rising debts … People have been denied the answers that they should have duly received … We believe that it is appropriate and well overdue for Australia to ensure that appropriate information is received by communities about what happened to their homes and livelihoods and for that information to be factual, accurate and based on independent science."
The villagers of Landu island, off the east coast of Rote island, say they were amongst the hardest hit because of their close proximity to the Australian coast.
"All the seaweed just died – all of it. Nothing was left," Landu village chief Semuel Messak told Fairfax Media.
"At first we didn't know why, till we heard about the oil spill. Before the spill, we could catch up to 100 fish each time we went out. Now, even after all these years, it's still difficult, maybe just 10-15 fish each time we go out to sea. We couldn't look for another job, because being fishermen (and seaweed farmers) is all the villagers know how to do. It was only by the grace of God we survived."
Nikodemus Manefa, a seaweed farmer whom Fairfax Media found tending his crop at Mulut Seribu in Rote recalls: "the seaweed turned white and fell off the string".
PTTEP Australasia has repeatedly said that to date it has not received any credible evidence that oil from Montara caused damage to the environment in West Timor.
It points to the Montara Environmental Monitoring Program which showed there was no long-term damage to the marine environment, notably at various reefs and shoals in Australian waters closest to Montara.
The company says independent studies published by the Australian Environment Department found 98 per cent of Montara oil stayed in Australian waters.
However the Australian Lawyers Alliance says the evidence it has gathered is sufficient to trigger an independent, scientific investigation – which it says PTTEP should fund.
It calls on the Australian government to negotiate with the governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste, affected communities and PTTEP Australasia to ensure the commencement of the investigation.
A DFAT spokeswoman said: "The Australian government is aware that community groups in East Nusa Tenggara are interested in having research undertaken on the impact of the Montara oil spill in Indonesia, and we have conveyed this to PTTEP Australasia."
The Australian government has repeatedly said it has no jurisdiction to compel companies to perform research in another country.
But the Australian Lawyers Alliance national president Greg Phelps said the Australian government does have jurisdiction to be proactive and offer Indonesia assistance to ensure proper research is conducted.
"The poverty and disadvantage of the reported victims is no excuse to ignore the effects of this disaster," Mr Phelps said.
The report says the Australian government's response is in stark contrast to US President Barack Obama's response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico just months after Montara.
"In fact, it is in the national interest to break this stalemate, given that our relationship with Indonesia has previously been described as 'perhaps our most important relationship'," the report says.
With Amilia Rosa