Indonesia: Locals allege Teluk Sepang coal-fired power plant causes pollution, sickness, unsafe labor, and suppressing of advocacy groups
"Censured Sumatra coal plant blamed for sickening children in Indonesia’s Bengkulu", Mongabay, 1 September 2025
[...] it’s a sanctioned coal power plant [...] that’s to blame for sickening the children in Teluk Sepang [...].
Between 2020 and 2023 coal operator PT Tenaga Listrik Bengkulu (TLB) received three separate sanctions for noncompliance by Indonesia’s environment ministry.
[...] The company was found to have dumped fly ash and bottom ash in a protected marine area off the coast of Bengkulu.
[...] The project site is located within a water catchment area and coastal boundary — it’s clear it will damage the coastal ecosystem [...].
The project was financed by PowerChina in collaboration with Indonesia’s PT Intraco Penta Tbk (INTA). It’s operated by PT Tenaga Listrik Bengkulu [...].
[...] she blames the fly ash blending with breathable air and the liquid waste discharged into the Indian Ocean, polluting the bay where children play.
Around 90 workers alternate loading up 8-ton trucks with lumps of coal [...] workers [...] are required to work late into the night if they want to earn 50,000 rupiah, around $3 per day.
Around 90% of the workers who perform this hazardous work are women.
Community advocacy for clean air started in 2015 [...].The community unsuccessfully sued provincial authorities in 2019 for permitting the plant [...].
However, that voluntary organization [...] disbanded after only a few years under pressure from local authorities and the coal plant management.
"They tried to silence the activism of local communities who rejected it, and suppressed their efforts to protect the environment [...]."
PT Tenaga Listrik Bengkulu spokesperson Soraya listed areas in which the company has complied with environmental regulations, including chimney height in excess of 2-2.5 meters (6-8 feet) and the use of low-sulfur coal.
The company has initiated corporate social responsibility efforts, Soraya added, including providing support to the local primary school, orphanage and mosque, and planting 1,000 tree seedlings with the Bengkulu city environmental department.