New oil spill affects Thousand Islands

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta

Head of the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) Kosasih Wirahadikusumah said on Tuesday an oil spill that caused serious pollution at the Thousand Islands Maritime National Park occurred last week but so far no party had claimed responsibility for it.

He said the new incident had caused serious environmental damage both to seawater and to islands surrounding the maritime park because oil waste had spread over a wide area.

A similar oil spill occurred late December last year, also causing serious pollution. The China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) was reported to the police by an environmental group over the December incident, but the investigation was still going on.

According to Kosasih, the new oil spill had nothing to do with the dead fish in Jakarta Bay.

"This is a new matter. I have received a complaint only from the maritime park management that oil has polluted the park," he said.

He added there were two possibilities on the source of the pollution. "We cannot decide whether the oil come from an offshore oil rig or a passing tanker. There are dozens of rigs in the area and dozens of tankers passing through."

Kosasih said the investigation of the incident was the responsibility of the Office of the State Minister of the Environment, while the BPLHD would only be responsible for treating areas that had suffered environmental damage.

He added that based on the international convention, CNOOC, whose rigs were closest to the incident site, was tasked with cleaning up the seawater surrounding the maritime park from oil waste.

He said the environmental damage caused by the new incident was similar to the impat of last December's oil spill.

Speaking about the investigation of the dead fish found in Jakarta, Kosasih promised to disclose the result of the investigation on Friday.