Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said that scrutiny of the bill showed it was not robust enough to deal with all of the hazards and risks in hand, and did not contain sufficient safeguards for environmental protection and public health.
“This must be urgently rectified before embarking on any bids for CCUS projects,” SAM president Meenakshi Raman said in a statement.
She said the most concerning part of the bill was its reference to “prudent CCUS practices”, to be construed as “any practice, method, measure, and standard generally followed by the global CCUS industry”.
“It raises many questions. Firstly, what is the meaning of the ‘global CCUS industry’? Secondly, who is to decide what is prudent or not?” she said.
Meenakshi also said that the bill did not elaborate on safety protocols for the prevention of leaks and environmental damage by carbon capture facilities.
Likewise, she said it did not address regulatory gaps in existing laws for the management of environmental and social risks stemming from CCUS projects.
For example, she said there was no law to regulate greenhouse gases, including for carbon dioxide. She said this was supposed to be addressed by the climate change bill, which was still being drafted.
“Pushing ahead with the CCUS law without waiting for the Climate Change Act appears to be jumping the gun, and is without proper policy and legislative coherence,” Meenakshi said.
She said that as the impact of CCUS projects could transcend state and national boundaries, such projects should require approval from the National Physical Planning Council headed by the prime minister under the Town and Country Planning Act (TCPA) 1976.
“This is currently not provided for under the TCPA. Hence, it is a major lacuna.”
She added that a rush to bid for and approve CCUS projects without proper environmental and social safeguards in place would see the commercial interests of big corporations trumping public interest and that of the environment.
“The government must balance all interests and not cave in to the powerful corporations and their lobbies,” she said.