Reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday faced some difficulties in getting hold of copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Radiological Impact Assessment (RIA) reports on the proposed rare earth plant.

This was despite the federal government having announced earlier that the reports on the plant being built in Gebeng near Kuantan in Pahang by Australian mining company Lynas Corporation would be available for public viewing nationwide.

Malaysiakini went to one of the locations in the federal capital yesterday morning where the two reports were to be made available – the National Library – but only to learn that the library was closed.

The notice board outside the gate says the library is closed on Mondays. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays.

Local reporters also contacted the headquarters of the Department of Environment in Putrajaya, but were told by officers there that the DoE library is also closed every Monday.

"You have to come on Tuesday if you wish to read the reports," an officer said.

However, Malaysiakini managed to find the reports at the DoE’s Selangor head office in Shah Alam, after making phone calls to several branch offices.

But the reporter was only allowed to copy the contents from the reports, each two inches thick, by hand as photocopying and taking photographs of the reports were prohibited.

Report: The plant is ‘safe’

The International Trade and Industry Ministry announced last week that the two reports would be available for public viewing for one month from May 30.

Public access to the reports is seen as part of the government's effort to pacify increasing opposition to the controversial Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp).

NONE Some Malaysians are also worried that the project will bring disaster in the form of imported radiation from rare earth materials brought into the country for processing.

The reports will be available for public viewing at the DoE library, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, the library of the Pahang Department of Environment, the Kuantan Municipal Council and the Pahang Land and District Office.

Both reports will also be available at the Pahang police headquarters in Kuantan, the police beat base at Gebeng industrial estate, the Pahang state library, the local penghulu’s office, all state DoE offices, the state offices of the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and at the National Library in Kuala Lumpur.

According to the RIA report, the plant's operations are “safe” and "would not cause undue radiological risk" to the public and the workers at Lamp.