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Biomass-burning coal plants leave the air even dirtier, Java communities say

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INDRAMAYU, Indonesia — A veil of smog lurks over Surono and Umroh’s home as relatives and neighbors file inside to greet the couple. Umroh welcomes the new arrivals over lunch as family members and friends congratulate the beaming pair on the birth of their second child. Outside in Tegal Taman village, here on the northern coast of Java Island’s Indramayu district, a thin coat of soot has settled on the roof of the family home. “Having dust like this is just normal, it’s been there for a long time ever since the PLTU started up,” Surono told Mongabay Indonesia. PLTU 1 Indramayu is a coal power complex that began operating in 2011. Run by PJB, a subsidiary of state-owned electricity utility PLN, the plant’s three units supply 990 megawatts to the Java-Bali grid owned by PLN. The plant’s smokestack is a local landmark, surrounded by rice fields, less than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) east of Surono and Umroh’s home. In the more than a decade since the power plant began operating, farmers have complained of declining rice yields, fishers say their catch has dwindled, and parents believe their children are increasingly falling prey to respiratory infections. Dust-up Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of coal, and the national grid relies on domestic supplies to generate two-thirds of the archipelago’s electricity. However, President Joko Widodo has committed in a submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to cutting Indonesia’s planet-warming emissions from a base scenario by 31.9% before…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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