Published: Tuesday February 7, 2012 MYT 4:14:00 PM

Bar Council condemns decision to grant TOL to Lynas

By ISABELLE LAI

PETALING JAYA: The Bar Council has condemned the Atomic Energy Licensing Board's (AELB) “almost immediate” decision to grant a Temporary Operating License (TOL) to Australian miner Lynas on Jan 30.

Its president Lim Chee Wee wants the Government to revoke or suspend the decision pending the results of a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

He pointed out that the TOL was granted just four days after it received over 1,000 submissions by the public regarding their thoughts about the plant's construction in Pahang.

“It beggars belief that AELB could have adequately and properly considered the 1,123 public comments within merely two working days,” said Lim in a statement Tuesday, slamming the public consultation process as a “sham and charade”.

Lim said the quick decision contravened one of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) recommendations that the Government had pledged to comply with, which was to inform interested and affected parties of the regulatory requirements and to involve them.

“Implicit in this is that AELB would do so in an adequate and proper manner,” he said.

He said the EIA must be conducted for the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) to foresee potential problems and address them during early stages of the project's planning and design.

“Hence, it begs the question why the Detailed EIA procedure was not complied with, thereby affecting the legality or otherwise of the decision made by AELB on Jan 30,” he said.

Lim also criticised AELB for approving the TOL when Lynas had yet to identify its permanent disposal facility (PDF).

He said AELB's requirement that Lynas deposit US$50mil (RM152mil) to the Government was also insufficient to cover remedial action should a catastrophe befall the area.

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