Health impacts of coal
Coal power plants are a significant source of air pollution, filling the air with toxic pollutants, including mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium and tiny toxic particles that go deep into people's lungs. This pollution leads to an increased risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart diseases, and respiratory diseases.  See the 2015 Greenpeace report 'The Human Cost of Coal Power'.

Harvard University has found that existing coal-fired power plants in Indonesia cause an estimated 6,500 premature deaths every year. Each large new power plant, like the Cirebon 2 Expansion (1000 MW capacity) is expected to result, on average, in the death of 600 Indonesians every year.

There have been anecdotal reports from local residents from the surrounding area of the Cirebon Unit 1 Plant of increased respiratory infections, which matches the government data showing there are more patients affected by acute upper respiratory tract infection in this area than other districts.

Impacts on local livelihoods
Since the construction and operation of Cirebon Unit 1 Plant in 2007, the local community has suffered heavily from ongoing adverse environmental impacts of the plant. The people residing at villages near the plant have traditionally relied on small-scale fishing, shellfish harvesting, salt making, production of terasi (shrimp paste) and farming for their livelihood. These livelihoods are all but gone for the local residents due to Cirebon's pollution, use of water resources and impacts on the natural environment.

According to testimonies from local communities, fish and shrimp catches decreased by more than half since the beginning of the project in 2007. The productivity of salt pans near the project site has also deteriorated since Cirebon Unit 1 began its operations, and as a result community representatives report that some 500 laborers in the affected communities have lost their livelihood. These imapcts have been reported by the community organisation Rapel (Rakyat Penyelamat Lingkungan, or Environment Defender Community) Cirebon.

Lack of Appropriate Consultation and Transparent Procedure in EIA and land acquisition
The Construction of Cirebon Unit 1 started before any environmental impact assessment (EIA) was completed, and local communities have complained of lack of transparency during the land acquisition process for the plant site. There are accounts of local authorities and companies using intimidation to encourage local landowners to sell their land, and a similar situation is emerging in the process of EIA and the land acquisition for Cirebon Unit 2. 

Water pollution
Coal is one of the most water-intensive methods of generating electricity since it consumes and pollutes a huge amount of water during extraction, processing, and combustion at power plants. An incredible amount of water is used and contaminated during the entire lifecycle of coal: coal mines deplete groundwater and pollute rivers and lakes. Coal washing turns large amounts of freshwater into toxic wastewater. Coal power plants consume vast amounts of water for cooling and pollution controls and their coal ash ponds can contaminate surrounding water bodies.

Coal ash pollution
Burning pulverized coal in boilers to create steam for power generation produces a number of combustion residuals. One is bottom ash, which is removed from the bottom of coal furnaces. Another is fly ash, most of which is captured by filtration equipment before flue gases reach the chimneys of power plants. Other combustion residuals are emitted through the stack. Such coal ash is generally trucked in dry or sent through pipelines with water to a disposal facility. The former generates fugitive dust and the latter often leads to groundwater contamination as heavy materials and other toxic chemicals flow into bodies of natural water. Coal ash is highly likely to contaminate soils, as well as harm ecosystems and human health, since it contains various heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, chrome, cobalt, copper, lead, and mercury, as well as radioactive substances such as radium, thorium, and uranium.

Air pollution
Air pollution standards in Indonesia are not protecting the local population. Despite the enormous health impacts of particulate matter pollution, Indonesia has no air quality standards for PM2.5, no standards for yearly average PM10 levels, and only a very weak standard of 150μg/m3 for daily PM10 levels. There is almost no air quality monitoring in Indonesia. From everyday experience it is clear that air pollution is a serious issue e.g. on much of Java and Sumatra, but there is little hard data made available by the government.

The Cirebon region
In West Java province in Indonesia is already feeling the effects of climate change. These include a rise in sea level, flooding in the coastal area, and drought during the long dry season. According to the national Agency for Disaster management (BnPB), about 13 per cent of the total area in Cirebon city is at heightened risk from flooding during high tides and high rainfall periods. In addition, the impacts of climate change threaten agricultural production, with drought causing extensive crop failure, in particular in Cirebon district (source: pubs.iied.org).