Press statement by Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) on 1st March 2012
Government is Confused and is Misleading the Public in relation to the Lynas Rare Earth waste Management Problem
Recent statements by our ministers following the 15,000-strong Himpunan Hijau 2.0 peaceful assembly were erratic, inaccurate and misleading.
Firstly our Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili was reported on 28th February that waste water from the rare earth plant in the USA has been allowed to discharge directly into the drain. Molycorp rare earth plant, the only operational plant in the USA was in fact closed down over ten YEARS ago for ground water pollution. The newly revamped plant has mechanism in place to manage and contain all waste water in-house. No waste water from the plant will be discharged into any waterways unlike the poorly designed Lynas plant in Gebeng which dump its contaminated water into the Balok River and the South China Sea.
Today, Dato’ Seri Liow Tiong Lai, Minister of Health reportedly suggested the Lynas’ radioactive waste be shipped back to Australia. Obviously he had not checked with the Australian Government.
The Western Australian Government through the Minister for Mines and PetroleumNorman Moore has stated twice – once in answering to questions raised by Greens MP Robin Chapple in April last year, and when asked by journalist last week – that his Government would NOT accept any radioactive waste from another country including that generated by Lynas.
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| Photograph taken during last year September’2011 theatrical street protest in front of Lynas Corp Perth Office in Australia – Arms locked & Lie on road to block Lynas rare earth ore transportation to its Malaysia rare earth plant in Gebeng, Kuantan |
“It is appalling that our Ministers are making such blatant unsubstantiated statements. They are misleading and confusing the public instead of assuming their duty of care to manage the Lynas problem with prudence.” said Mr Tan Bun Teet, Chairman of SMSL
Minister Liow’s suggestion has essentially contravened Malaysia’s commitment under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. It is illegal under international law to transport hazardous waste like that from the Lynas plant across national boundaries.
“It is an embarrassment in the eye of the international media and governments because through the Lynas issue, Malaysia is now being watched and reported regularly around the world! Malaysia’s governance standard has just been washed down the drain by our very own Ministers.” Added Mr Tan.
SMSL is disappointed and alarmed at the same time by the unprofessional manner in which our Ministers and senior bureaucrats have demonstrated in their inability to tackle the Lynas waste problems to date.
Raja Dato’ Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan, the Director General of AELB has more than once said that the waste produced by LAMP is so safe that you can ‘tabur’ (scatter) it around.
The Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Pahang has claimed that the radioactivity of the waste is no more than that posed by smoking a cigarette or the use of our hand phones, quoting directly from Lynas’ statements.
“AELB is a regulator and the MB is in charge of Pahang’s state affairs. These are supposedly highly responsible positions. Yet we have people in these positions making such careless and irresponsible statements instead of doing their duty to take care of the country and the state.” Remarked SMSL Vice Chairman Haji Ismail Abu Bakar.
“It is unfortunate and unacceptable that rakyat and Malaysian tax payers will suffer as a result. Worse, the state and the country’s future and our economy will also be jeopardised by the bad decision of the current Government.” He added.
Last Sunday’s rally is only a test run for many citizens. The Stop Lynas campaign has gone national in a big way. The Government’s poor response and irresponsible remarks will only inflamed the situation further.
Mr Tan clarified,
“We are preparing for the legal action. We want it strong and tight to withstand the scrutiny of the court, the Government and Lynas’ legal team.”
“Lynas will probably pull its next publicity stunt by bringing in its rare earth concentrate to salvage its falling stock in the share market. SMSL, Kuantan residents and our fellow Malaysians are ready. We said we would block the ore getting to the plant, and we will. Now that we know we will not be alone!” Concluded Mr Tan and Haji Ismail.
Source: http://savemalaysia-stoplynas.blogspot.com/
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I won’t say much. The following is an extraction from wikipedia.
Environmental considerations
Mining, refining, and recycling of rare earths have serious environmental consequences if not properly managed. A particular hazard is mildly radioactive slurry tailings resulting from the common occurrence of thorium and uranium in rare earth element ores.[45] Additionally, toxic acids are required during the refining process.[14] Improper handling of these substances can result in extensive environmental damage. In May 2010, China announced a major, five-month crackdown on illegal mining in order to protect the environment and its resources. This campaign is expected to be concentrated in the South,[46] where mines – commonly small, rural, and illegal operations – are particularly prone to releasing toxic wastes into the general water supply.[13][47] However, even the major operation in Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, where much of the world’s rare earth supply is refined, has caused major environmental damage.[14]
The Bukit Merah mine in Malaysia has been the focus of a US$100 million cleanup which is proceeding in 2011. “Residents blamed a rare earth refinery for birth defects and eight leukemia cases within five years in a community of 11,000 — after many years with no leukemia cases.” Seven of the leukemia victims died. After having accomplished the hilltop entombment of 11,000 truckloads of radioactively contaminated material, the project is expected to entail in summer, 2011, the removal of “more than 80,000 steel barrels of radioactive waste to the hilltop repository.” One of Mitsubishi’s contractors for the cleanup is GeoSyntec, an Atlanta-based firm.[37] Osamu Shimizu, a director of Asian Rare Earth, “said the company might have sold a few bags of calcium phosphate fertilizer on a trial basis as it sought to market byproducts” in reply to a former resident of Bukit Merah who said, “The cows that ate the grass [grown with the fertilizer] all died.”[48]
In May 2011, after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, widespread protests took place in Kuantan over the Lynas refinery and radioactive waste from it. The ore to be processed has very low levels of thorium, and Lynas founder and chief executive Nicholas Curtis said “There is absolutely no risk to public health.” T. Jayabalan, a doctor who says he has been monitoring and treating patients affected by the Mitsubishi plant, “is wary of Lynas’s assurances. The argument that low levels of thorium in the ore make it safer doesn’t make sense, he says, because radiation exposure is cumulative.”[48] Construction of the facility has been halted until an independent United Nations IAEA panel investigation is completed, which is expected by the end of June 2011.[49] New restrictions were announced by the Malaysian government in late June.[38]
IAEA panel investigation is completed and no construction has been halted. Lynas is on budget and on schedule to start producing 2011. The IAEA report has concluded in a report issued on Thursday June 2011 said it did not find any instance of “any non-compliance with international radiation safety standards” in the project. [50]
Thanks for sharing the information, Tan.
Feel very sad for the Government had not been acting pro-actively to foresee all the bad consequences.
When every countries are closing down their production factories and leave it to China to be the Key producer in this field, why Malaysia want to be the headline & involve in such Big Money Game among all richest countries? It’s all about money! 🙁