Palm oil mill told to close for discharging ammonia in river

State government to carry out area mapping to identify river-side factories and control river pollution.

JOHOR BARU: A palm oil mill here has been ordered to close after the Department of Environment issued a 60-day suspension notice for discharging ammonia into a river.

The state secretary, Ismail Karim, said the government-linked mill had been recently charged for ammonia emission.

“Waste samples from the oil palm mill have been taken as evidence to be produced in court,” said Ismail.

He said this was the second case after an illegal factory processing waste materials was charged for dumping wastes into the river last year.

Ismail said the state government will carry out an area mapping exercise to identify industries operating along the rivers in Johor.

He said the move was necessary in an effort to control river pollution especially the rivers which were the main source of raw water supply.

“We have instructed the Johor Water Regulatory Body to carry out the area mapping exercise to include all rivers in the state. This is done so that we can identify the industries or factories in the area when we make our checks,” he told reporters today.

Yesterday, a DoE spokesman said a palm oil mill would be investigated under Section 16 of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 after it was found guilty of violating license terms.