Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
Erin Brockovich exposed how chromium-6 poisoned a California town’s water, this toxic chemical has been found in Indonesian waters, and shockingly the major nickel supplier Harita knew about it for a decade.
Subscribe to OCCRP on YouTube ► https://shorturl.at/BSzsh
A major supplier to the global electric vehicle battery industry knew for over a decade that its Indonesian nickel operations were polluting water with a carcinogenic chemical — and didn’t disclose it, a new investigation by OCCRP, Gecko Project, and Deutsche Welle reveals.
Harita Group, one of Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates, has been mining nickel on Obi island since 2010. The mineral is a critical component of electric vehicle batteries, marketed globally as part of a green, clean future.
But Harita’s own internal monitoring found chromium-6 — the same chemical made famous in the Erin Brockovich case — contaminating water around its operations. Chromium-6 is toxic even in small amounts. A leak of internal emails revealed top managers were aware that measurements of chromium-6 around the nickel operations were consistently exceeding legal limits, but didn’t say anything publicly, or warn villagers. Instead, they fretted that environmental groups might detect the chemical, or that the government might add Harita to an environmental “black list” if it learned of the extent of its pollution.
Read the full investigation: occrp.org/en/investigation/major-nickel-supplier-harita-knew-about-water-contamination-at-indonesian-operation-for-a-decade
@DWPlanetA @TheGeckoProject
#harita #toxicwaste #erinbrockovich #indonesia #watercontamination #environmentaldisaster #ToxicPollution #investigativejournalism #whistleblower #industrialpollution #miningindustry #heavymetals #waterpollution #toxicexposure #corporatescandal #publichealth
Erin Brockovich exposed how chromium-6 poisoned a California town’s water, this toxic chemical has been found in Indonesian waters, and shockingly the major nickel supplier Harita knew about it for a decade.
Subscribe to OCCRP on YouTube ► https://shorturl.at/BSzsh
A major supplier to the global electric vehicle battery industry knew for over a decade that its Indonesian nickel operations were polluting water with a carcinogenic chemical — and didn’t disclose it, a new investigation by OCCRP, Gecko Project, and Deutsche Welle reveals.
Harita Group, one of Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates, has been mining nickel on Obi island since 2010. The mineral is a critical component of electric vehicle batteries, marketed globally as part of a green, clean future.
But Harita’s own internal monitoring found chromium-6 — the same chemical made famous in the Erin Brockovich case — contaminating water around its operations. Chromium-6 is toxic even in small amounts. A leak of internal emails revealed top managers were aware that measurements of chromium-6 around the nickel operations were consistently exceeding legal limits, but didn’t say anything publicly, or warn villagers. Instead, they fretted that environmental groups might detect the chemical, or that the government might add Harita to an environmental “black list” if it learned of the extent of its pollution.
Read the full investigation: occrp.org/en/investigation/major-nickel-supplier-harita-knew-about-water-contamination-at-indonesian-operation-for-a-decade
@DWPlanetA @TheGeckoProject
#harita #toxicwaste #erinbrockovich #indonesia #watercontamination #environmentaldisaster #ToxicPollution #investigativejournalism #whistleblower #industrialpollution #miningindustry #heavymetals #waterpollution #toxicexposure #corporatescandal #publichealth
