THERE is little point in belaboring the issue: the damage is done, the rice fields are destroyed. The hot gas and mud gushing out of Banjar Panji-1 well, owned by Lapindo Brantas Inc. at Renokenongo village in Sidoarjo, East Java, has been going on for close to a month. Last week, Energy & Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro declared the disaster to be caused by a drilling error and not by the recent earthquake.

Lapindo Brantas, a sub