Legal Battle Erupts Over Flores "Geothermal Island" Designation: Archdiocese of Ende Challenges Ministry of ESDM at the Supreme Court

JAKARTA — The legal and environmental battle over Indonesia’s green energy transition has reached a critical juncture. The Archdiocese of Ende, spearheaded by its Commission for Justice, Peace, and Integrity, has officially filed a judicial review petition at the Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung) challenging the controversial designation of Flores Island as a "Geothermal Island" (Pulau Panas Bumi), alongside specific ministerial decrees authorizing geothermal work areas (Wilayah Kerja Panas Bumi or WKP) in Sokoria and Mataloko.

Registered on September 4, 2026, under case number 43 P/HUM/2026, the lawsuit has galvanized a broad coalition of civil society organizations, environmental watchdogs, and local indigenous communities. At the heart of the legal challenge is a fundamental question that threatens to redefine national energy policies: Can a project marketed as clean and sustainable be legally and ethically justified if it bypasses public transparency, compromises delicate ecosystems, and inflicts socio-ecological misery on the local population?

Main Facts: At the Heart of the Legal Challenge

The legal petition targets three foundational decrees issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM):

1. Ministerial Decree No. 0539 K/30/MEM/2012 concerning the Establishment of the Sokoria WKP.
2. Ministerial Decree No. 1152 K/30/MEM/2011 concerning the Establishment of the Mataloko WKP.
3. Ministerial Decree No. 2268 K/30/MEM/2017 regarding the official designation of Flores Island as a "Geothermal Island."

According to Azas Tigor Nainggolan, a member of the legal counsel team representing the Archdiocese of Ende, these administrative decrees carry sweeping ramifications that extend far beyond regional energy supply, deeply impacting local business operators, agrarian livelihoods, and ecological preservation across Flores.

The island’s unique topography features a complex network of volcanic mountain ranges, dense tropical forests, vital water catchment areas, and natural springs that sustain domestic consumption, small-scale farming, and livestock husbandry.

"Every policy capable of altering upland ecosystems, altering land use, and disrupting ecological balances must be handled with extreme caution, grounded in science, conducted with absolute transparency, and shaped by meaningful public participation," Tigor stated in an interview.

The legal challenge rests upon three primary pillars:

• The Right to Information: Local communities have faced systemic roadblocks in obtaining complete, unredacted copies of the ESDM decrees, often learning of critical project details only through post-hoc auction announcements.
• Lack of Meaningful Public Participation: The government’s approach to public engagement has been reduced to tokenistic formal consultations rather than an inclusive process that genuinely informs citizens of ecological risks and incorporates their consent.
• Absence of Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments (AMDAL): The decrees were enacted without transparent, rigorous, and localized environmental impact evaluations, despite Flores’s well-documented ecological vulnerabilities.

The Archdiocese is formally petitioning the Supreme Court to declare the three ESDM decrees legally flawed, contradictory to higher statutory laws, and entirely null and void, while commanding their formal revocation. In their subsidiary petition, they argue that even if the core policies are maintained, the procedural irregularities—namely the violations of public participation rights, freedom of information mandates, and AMDAL requirements—render the implementation unlawful.

Chronology of Resistance: From Administrative Appeals to the Supreme Court

The journey toward the Supreme Court petition did not happen overnight; it is the culmination of years of grassroots frustration met with institutional stonewalling.

• 2019: Grassroots opposition intensifies. Residents in Mataloko, Ngada Regency, and surrounding areas begin actively organizing against geothermal operations following unmitigated environmental degradation and unexplained hot mud eruptions near residential zones.
• February 23, 2026: Recognizing the systemic lack of transparency, the Archdiocese of Ende officially lodges its first administrative objection letter with the Directorate General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) under the Ministry of ESDM. Ministry officials verbally commit to releasing comprehensive documentation regarding the geothermal WKP decrees.
• April 28, 2026: Following months of unfulfilled promises and persistent bureaucratic evasion, the Archdiocese files a second formal administrative objection letter as the requested access to documents continues to be withheld.
• Late July 2026: Archbishop of Ende, Paulus Budi Kleden, publicly denounces the geothermal expansion during a high-profile press conference in Jakarta, amplifying the plight of local farmers and villagers whose water sources are rapidly diminishing.
• September 4, 2026: With administrative avenues exhausted and requests for transparency ignored, the Archdiocese officially registers its judicial review petition at the Supreme Court (Case No. 43 P/HUM/2026).
• October 8, 2026: A coalition of civil society organizations formally submits an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief to the Supreme Court, throwing institutional weight behind the Archdiocese’s legal crusade.
• October 9, 2026: Legal representatives break down the technical and constitutional merits of the lawsuit in exclusive interviews, highlighting the urgent need to overhaul top-down green energy mandates.

Supporting Data & Ecological Vulnerabilities

To understand why the Archdiocese and civil society are taking such a firm stand, one must look closely at the physical and environmental realities of Flores Island. Spanning approximately 14,000 square kilometers, Flores sits within Indonesia’s volcanic belt, holding an estimated geothermal potential of nearly 1,000 megawatts. Recognizing this vast subterranean energy, the Ministry of ESDM officially branded the entire landmass as a "Geothermal Island" in 2017.

Currently, three major geothermal power plants (PLTP) are operational or under development across the island: PLTP Sokoria in Ende Regency, PLTP Mataloko in Ngada Regency, and PLTP Ulumbu in Manggarai Regency.

However, environmental experts and local communities point out that this industrial push severely miscalculates the island’s ecological carrying capacity. According to the Regional Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMD) of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) for 2024–2029, the region is highly susceptible to severe droughts, seasonal water scarcity, frequent seismic activity, and volcanic eruptions.

Furthermore, the resource extraction process itself is intensely water-intensive. Data from the science and engineering laboratories of the United States Department of Energy indicates that a single geothermal well requires between 42 million to 55 million liters of water during the exploratory drilling phase alone. In a region where underground aquifers are already stressed, the diversion of millions of liters of water for subsurface drilling threatens to completely dry up local springs used for drinking and irrigation.

Official Responses and Civil Society Intervention

The legal battle has transcended local religious boundaries, drawing the attention of national human rights and environmental coalitions who view the case as a litmus test for Indonesia’s energy transition policies.

On October 8, 2026, a coalition of prominent civil society organizations submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court. Among them is the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

"Renewable energy is not a blank check for the state. In the name of energy transition, the government remains legally and morally obligated to respect human rights, safeguard ecosystems, guarantee information transparency, and ensure that local populations have a decisive voice in shaping the future of their own territories," asserted Edy Kurniawan, Advocacy Manager at YLBHI.

Faizal Ratuela, Anti-Mining and Just Energy Campaigner at WALHI National (Indonesian Forum for the Environment), echoed these sentiments. He emphasized that the government’s current planning completely ignores basic hydrological realities and disaster risks.

"The development of geothermal projects must never be used as an excuse to sacrifice the safety of the citizenry, environmental integrity, and fundamental human rights," Faizal warned. He cautioned that unchecked geothermal expansion risks triggering widespread ecological disasters, including severe landscape destruction, hydrological disruptions, forced displacement, and escalating agrarian conflicts.

Renie Aryandani of Trend Asia criticized the federal government for consistently sidelining social justice in the pursuit of fast-tracked infrastructure targets.

"The label ‘renewable energy’ does not automatically make a project just," Renie noted. "There are still vulnerable islands forced to shoulder disproportionate ecological, disaster-related, and socio-economic costs simply to power industries in the central hubs."

Implications: The Human Cost on the Ground

Behind the dry legal jargon of administrative law and high-level ministerial decrees lies a deeply personal human toll.

Archbishop Paulus Budi Kleden has consistently voiced moral opposition to the geothermal push, pointing out that the targeted exploration zones frequently overlap directly with traditional farming plots and residential settlements. The trauma of past administrative failures remains raw. In Mataloko, residents recall how exploratory wells drilled years ago left behind unmitigated hazards.

Antoni, a resident of Mataloko Village, testified that existing geothermal installations have severely polluted local water sources and degraded surrounding forests. "In our fields and even right next to our homes, hot mud geysers began erupting after the geothermal operations started," Antoni shared. "Yet the company dismisses these eruptions as natural disasters rather than direct consequences of industrial geothermal activity." Because of this, Antoni and his neighbors have maintained a steadfast resistance against geothermal projects in Mataloko since 2019.

Similar concerns are echoed by Mistin, a resident of Laja Village in Manggarai. Facing chronic local droughts, Mistin worries about plans to tap into the Tiwu Bala River—the community’s last remaining water lifeline—to feed industrial geothermal requirements.

"Even though the community has consistently rejected these projects, the installation of industrial pipes continues unabated. We see the pipelines nearing completion right before our eyes," Mistin said. She added that official socializations were restricted to a tiny faction of residents who favored the projects, leaving the broader public completely in the dark regarding structural safety hazards. "We are deeply disappointed because these massive energy projects are being forced upon us without our genuine knowledge or consent."

Conclusion: A Defining Moment for Indonesia’s Energy Transition

As the Supreme Court weighs the arguments presented in Case No. 43 P/HUM/2026, the implications extend far beyond the rugged hills of Flores. The verdict will establish a critical precedent for how Indonesia balances its ambitious national targets for renewable energy generation against the constitutional rights of local communities, ecological preservation, and transparency in governance.

For the Archdiocese of Ende, the local farmers, and the broader coalition of civil society watchdogs, the message to Jakarta is unequivocal: True sustainability cannot be built on a foundation of environmental degradation, institutional opacity, and the systematic silencing of the people whose lives depend on the land.