Category: Environment EN

Dear friends, despite the on-going environmental and human disasters brought by the fallout from the Fukushima nuclear reactors meltdown, the Japanese government is hell-bent to continue its export of what has become questionable nuclear power generation technologies. Since Fukushima, Japan has witnessed a revival of a citizen-led anti-nuclear power movement. As the crisis entered its 6th month,...

The Consumers Association of Penang deeply regrets statements by Berjaya Corporation criticizing Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon’s administration for decisions made over the Penang Hill project in 1993. Both Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Berjaya Land’s chief executive officer, Datuk Francis Ng have distorted the facts and have not presented the complete and true picture of what happened as regards the...

Are we facing global ecological apocalypse? Experts report accelerated melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets; decrease in Arctic Sea Ice; sea level rise and release of trapped methane from the seabed. How have these changes and human activities affected our oceans - the largest ecosystem on Earth that maintains our world in a habitable condition? A June 2011 summary report of the...

CAP is saddened by the recent landslide in Kampung Sungai Ruil, Cameron Highlands that has claimed seven lives. Whilst the cause of the landslide that hit the Orang Asli settlement is being investigated by the authorities, there are speculations that a land clearing and earthworks nearby the settlement for a township development by LBS Bina Group Berhad could have contributed to the disaster....

July 5, 2011 - A delegation of 12 Malaysians held a protest outside the Australian company Lynas' HQ in Sydney against its construction of the world’s largest rare earth refinery in the industrial estate of Gebeng, near the port of Kuantan. There is growing opposition because the refinery will leave highly toxic and radioactive behind. A previous rare earths refinery in Bukit Merah (operated...

CAP and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) are disappointed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has given the go ahead to the proposed Lynas rare earth processing plant in Gebeng by concluding that the review team was not able to identify any non-compliance with international radiation safety standards.  The team had nevertheless identified 10 issues which it considered that improvements...

The Radiological Impact assessment (RIA) for the Lynas plant which was made available for public viewing on 30 May 2011 has cast serious doubts on the whole approval procedure and due diligence process. Firstly, the RIA made public recently was done in June 2010. However, it made references to an earlier version approved in 2008. Why was the RIA approved in 2008 before the revised version was...

Written Submission to the IAEA International Panel: Review of Lynas at Gebeng, Kuantan Thursday, 2 June 2011 by Consumers’ Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia INTRODUCTION: We are highly concerned because basic procedures such as an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a Radiological Impact Assessment (RIA) have not been carried out according to even the minimum standards....

The Lynas plant in Kuantan is unravelling into a nightmare. The Lanthamide concentrates (rare earths) from Australia that Lynas will import into Malaysia contain thorium AND uranium, which the processing in Kuantan will produce massive amount of radioactive wastes. Further, there appears to be a serious disconnect in the entire review process of the Lynas plant. There seems to be two separate...

On 14 May, the Minister for the International Trade and Industry (MITI), Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohammed announced the independent panel to review the proposed Lynas rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Pahang. Since the review involves environmental and public health and radiation safety issues, concerning a hazardous facility, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the MITI. We are thus...