PUTRAJAYA: An executive committee has been set up to review the operations of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Gebeng, Pahang, to ensure that Malaysia does not become a toxic waste dumping ground for other countries.Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the Cabinet on Oct 10 had decided that members of the committee would comprise those who had not openly stated their stand, either to support or protest against Lynas’ operations.
“This is to prevent any parties from questioning the credibility of the committee, due to the stand of some of its members (over the issue),” Bernama reported her as saying in a statement today.
She said the ministry had examined the list of committee members and found them all to be experts in their relevant fields.
The six members of the committee include Institute for Environment and Development (Lestari) research fellow Prof Mazlin Mokhtar; United Nations University – International Institute for Global Health visiting lecturer Prof Jamal Hisham Hashim; and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Unit director Prof Maketab Mohamed.
The others are Assoc Prof Anita Abdul Rahman from the Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia; Universiti Malaysia Pahang’s Earth Resources and Sustainability Centre director Assoc Prof Muzamir Hasan and former director of the Hazardous Substances Division in the Department of Environment Malaysia Che Asmah Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, Lynas is looking into alternative locations should it be forced to shut down its rare earth processing plant in Kuantan, following Putrajaya’s decision to review its operations, Financial Times (FT) reported.
But the Australian-listed company’s CEO, Amanda Lacaze, is confident Lynas would pass the environmental review ordered by the Pakatan Harapan government.
A negative review, she told the portal, would “alarm investors, customers and governments” who depend on a reliable source of supply of rare earths outside China.
“I don’t think it is likely to be the outcome but if we were forced to close [in Malaysia] it would be immediately felt in the supply chain throughout the world and it would be most significant in the Japanese, North American and European markets,” Financial Times quoted Lacaze as saying.
If they are forced to close the plant in Pahang, Lacaze said they might find a partner in China or re-establish its operations outside of China, adding that Australia “is a pretty good place”.
Putrajaya has promised an “open and transparent” review of the Lynas plant in Gebeng.
Last week, Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh resigned from the committee to review the plant in Gebeng, following weeks of criticism over her role in the matter.
Lynas previously raised concerns about the impartiality of Fuziah and committee member Wong Tack, who is Bentong MP, both long-time opponents of the project.
Its main products, neodymium and praseodymium, are used in magnets for motors that drive automated seats and windows in cars, motors for hybrid vehicles and as magnets in electronic products, like DVDs and hard-disk drives.