Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh and Bentong MP Wong Tack will be leading a proposed committee set up to review the Lynas project, according to Energy, Green Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin.
Yeo told Malaysiakini in an interview at her office yesterday that the Lynas rare earth refinery in Gebeng, Kuantan, was just one out of several environmentally risky projects which she had identified for a possible review.
She also said she had informed the two lawmakers of her plans even before being sworn-in to office on July 3.
“I talked to them and they have agreed. So upon it, we are going to see the committee next week.
“We are also going to see the Department of Environment (DOE) to discuss the Lynas issue and see how we are going to form the committee, and then to see how do we take the next step,” said the Bakri MP.
“I think that there are a lot of things we can do on Lynas. But now it is still premature, so let’s leave it to the committee to decide.
“People like Wong Tack (photo) will be able to lead it very well, and I am looking forward to his leadership in this committee,” she further said.
Yeo, however, reassured that any reforms done would be according to the rule of law, as it was a necessary measure to retain foreign investors confidence to do business in Malaysia.
Both Fuziah and Wong Tack are active campaigners against the Australian mining company’s operations, citing environmental and health concerns, from before the time it was granted a temporary operating license (TOL) by Malaysia’s nuclear regulator - the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) - on Jan 30, 2012.
On Feb 26 the same year, Wong Tack had rallied thousands of protesters against Lynas, amid concerns that the proposed project had contravened the Environment Quality Act 1974.
Fuziah (photo), now a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, is in her third-term as a lawmaker and had consistently raised her objections to the project in previous Parliament sessions.
Aside from zeroing in on specific ongoing projects, Yeo also revealed plans to push for an overall review of the DOE, with focus on processes involved in approvals of environmental impact assessment (EIA) conducted before any project could proceed to the development stage.
“I think right now all development projects with an EIA report from consulting firms will be approved.
“There is no ‘teeth’ in it. Everyone that has an EIA report can get it (approval) through,” she noted.
“I think we need to grow teeth in our EIA reports. Next week I will be seeing them (DOE) and I will discuss on how we, as a governing body, can be more professional in evaluating the environmental impacts of different projects."
‘No plans for nuclear energy’
Yeo, meanwhile, also reaffirmed Harapan's promise in its 14th general elections manifesto to scrap plans announced under the previous BN administration for Malaysia to develop nuclear energy.
She said this as there are still many other sources of energy which have yet to be explored as an alternative to non-renewable energy.
“Malaysia does not need a nuclear plant at this moment. I think we have a lot of potential in renewable energy, for example, solar energy, biomass, biogas, hydro... these are just some examples of the renewable energy.
“We have not even tapped into it. There are a lot of times when you have not even run 100m but you want to run a marathon,” she said.
“Building a nuclear power plant is like running a marathon. If we can do our solar well, if we can do our biomass, biogas, hydro and mini-hydro well, we can easily build up our renewable energy capacity to meet the demands of this country."
As for the current electricity tariffs, Yeo hinted that there would be good news soon as the ministry is currently reviewing a few independent power producers (IPPs) that were awarded contracts through direct negotiations and had pushed up generation costs.
“We need to be able to reform the power sector so that we will have affordable, sustainable as well as secured electricity.
“So the government right now will through the ministry review some of the IPPs, and I think there will be some good news next week,” she said. - Mkini
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