Analisis Hukum atas Dampak Kerugian Lingkungan Hidup akibat Pertambangan Pasir secara Ilegal terhadap Warga Sekitar (Studi Kasus Pascatambang Ilegal di Eks Hotel Tirta, Kelurahan Karangjati, Kecamatan Balikpapan Tengah)

This research is motivated by the existence of illegal sand mining activities in Kelurahan Karangjati, Central Balikpapan District, which have caused environmental damage and losses for the surrounding community. This issue indicates weak government supervision and the suboptimal implementation of legal accountability for perpetrators of illegal mining activities. The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental damage caused by illegal sand mining and the forms of legal accountability that should be imposed on responsible parties. The research uses a socio-legal juridical approach, combining normative analysis with empirical field conditions. Data were obtained through interviews and literature studies. The results show that illegal mining has disrupted environmental elements as referred to in Article 1 Paragraph (1) of Law Number 32 of 2009. The impacts include land degradation, landslide threats, cracked houses, loss of land boundaries, sand floods entering settlements, and growing public anxiety about environmental sustainability. Accountability for environmental damage has not been optimally enforced; only field workers have faced criminal sanctions, while those who ordered, managed, and profited remain untouched by law. Civil remedies have been ineffective due to limited ability to compensate losses. Administrative sanctions are irrelevant because there are no permits to revoke and no reclamation guarantee funds to restore the damaged environment. According to Philipus M. Hadjon’s perspective, the state should be present not only in enforcement (repressive) but also in prevention (preventive) to realize substantive justice and environmental recovery.