Green Surf (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future), a coalition which lobbies for clean energy options for Sabah, has asked that the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) on the proposed coal-fired plant in Sinakut, Lahad Datu be rejected and redone.     

This is because the DEIA was found to be faulty with some inappropriate baseline data collections, whereas its terms of reference (ToR) was approved by the Department of Environment, despite state agencies asking for a revised version during a previous meeting.     

Green Surf member and WWF-Malaysia policy analyst Lanash Thanda said, during the closed-door DEIA panel meeting in Kota Kinabalu and attended by Green Surf and state agencies yesterday, DEIA consultants came up with extremely generalised statements that cast doubt on the assessment process.     

"Among the many mistakes in the DEIA was that the consultants in the report compared this area with coral reef areas like in the Strait of Malacca, Klang and Tioman, when in fact it is a 'mud flats' area. It's a comparison of the wrong ecosystem; its like apples and oranges.     

“An environmental analyst, Will Unsworth, who was invited for the panel meeting, has stated that the baseline data collections were not technically appropriate for the sea bed types found at this site," Thanda told reporters after the coalition post-mortem meeting in Kota Kinabalu today.

Another wildlife conservationist, Dr Marc Ancrenaz, who was also present at the DEIA panel meeting, also expressed shock at finding the consultants had identified species not present in Borneo in their report, she said.     

"The dusky langur monkey (Semnopithecus obscurus) is found in Peninsular Malaysia and mainland Asia and not in Borneo. The white rumped shama -- a species of bird not found in Borneo -- is also mentioned in the report," added Thanda.   

'Report scientifically inadequate'

To add insult to injury, the report when describing the socio-economic status of the area, had classified the 'Orang Sungai' and 'Tidong' as being of Indonesian origin, which is a clear misinterpretation.     

Among the other points brought up was that the DEIA erroneously classified the seabed as a habitat largely devoid of sea life, when in fact the area comprises a wide range of marine eco-system.     

She concluded that the DEIA report on the proposed coal-fired plant was therefore, a scientifically inadequate representation of the area, and on this basis alone, the DEIA should be rejected.     

Green Surf is a coalition of five non-governmental organisations, namely SEPA, WWF-Malaysia, Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), Partners of Community Organisations (Pacos) and Malaysia Nature Society.     

- Bernama