[Geysers] A Man-Made Mud Bath - caused by drilling (check out photos)

[V]

More news- Vicky

New Indonesia Calamity: A Man-Made Mud Bath 
KEDUNGBENDO, Indonesia, 
Oct. 5 — 
The New York Times 

Photos 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/asia/06mud.html?em&ex=1160366400&en=273a6c010c7de2cf&ei=5087%0A


It started as a natural gas well. It has become geysers of mud 
and water, and in a country plagued by earthquakes, volcanoes 
and tsunamis another calamity in the making, though this one 
is largely man-made. 

Eight villages are completely or partly submerged, with homes 
and more than 20 factories buried to the rooftops. Some 13,000 
people have been evacuated. The four-lane highway west of here 
has been cut in two, as has the rail line, dealing a serious blow to 
the economy of this region in East Java, an area vital to the 
country’s economy. The muck has already inundated an area 
covering one and a half square miles. 

And it shows no signs of stopping. 

The mud is rising by the hour, and now spewing forth at the rate 
of about 170,000 cubic yards a day, or about enough to cover 
Central Park. 

Foreign companies, environmental groups and political observers 
are now watching closely to see whether the government will 
hold the company that drilled the well accountable for the costs 
of the cleanup, which could easily reach $1 billion. 

The company is part of a conglomerate controlled by Aburizal 
Bakrie, a cabinet member and billionaire who was a major 
contributor to the campaign of President Susilo Bambang 
Yudhoyono. 

The disaster occurred as the company, Lapindo Brantas, drilled 
thousands of feet to tap natural gas and used practices that 
geologists, mining engineers and Indonesian officials described 
as faulty. 

MORE 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/asia/06mud.html?em&ex=1160366400&en=273a6c010c7de2cf&ei=5087%0A

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