RimbaWatch rues DOE limiting download access to EIA reports

RimbaWatch has criticised the Environment Department’s (DOE) handling of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports, citing longstanding concerns over transparency and public accessibility.

RimbaWatch director Adam Farhan said the environmental watchdog had encountered repeated issues when attempting to access EIA documents through the DOE’s online database.

“In our work, we have dealt with a long history of EIA non-transparency.

“For example, the DOE's EIA database sometimes becomes unavailable, it only goes back to Feb 2, 2024, and it misses out significant details, such as which schedule the EIAs are.

“Further, the EIA database only has the title of EIAs, and no part of the content of these EIAs is publicly available, not even an executive summary,” he told Malaysiakini today.

No longer downloadable

On Sept 14, 2023, Malaysiakini reported that Putrajaya quietly made it possible for the public to download copies of EIA reports submitted to the DOE since Sept 4 that year.

At the time, former natural resources, environment and climate change minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said he had decided to make EIA downloadable because Putrajaya wanted to secure as much public opinion and input as possible.

In a statement on Jan 22, 2025, Nik Nazmi announced that the DOE is committed to making EIA reports more accessible to the public, whilst ensuring development activities in Malaysia remain environmentally sustainable.

At the time of the statement, public access to EIA reports was limited and only reports under the Second Schedule were viewable, and only during the public display period. To address this, Nik Nazmi said that the DOE outlined two phases of improvement.

In the near term (from February 2025), executive summaries of EIA reports covering both the First and Second Schedules would be made available to the public through the Enviro Digital@DOE library website.

Those wishing to view full reports could contact the relevant state DOE offices or the DOE headquarters directly.

In the longer term, he said that the DOE would explore whether full EIA reports could be made downloadable online, though this would depend on funding, legal amendments to the Environmental Quality Act, and upgraded technical infrastructure.

Nik Nazmi also welcomed public feedback on EIA reports during the public display period, and expressed hope that greater access would dispel any doubts about the integrity of DOE-approved reports.

The DOE required project proponents of matters described in the Second Schedule of the Environmental Quality (Prescribed Activities) (Environmental Impact Assessment) Order 2015 to display EIA reports for 30 days.

In the EIA system, the “Second Schedule” refers to the list of projects considered to have potentially significant environmental impacts, requiring a detailed EIA rather than just a preliminary EIA.

Checks by Malaysiakini showed that EIA reports have not been available for download for the past several months, however, when exactly this started is unknown.

Commenting further, Adam said it was aware that a very limited portion of Second Schedule EIAs are available online.

“But this does not cover all Schedule Two EIAs, and the fact that we can't download them makes it difficult to conduct analysis and for record-keeping, as EIAs often appear and disappear on the DOE's website.”

He pointed out that the lack of downloadable reports and incomplete information hampered public scrutiny and independent analysis of environmentally sensitive projects.

Lynas’ expansion plan

In the most recent case, the DOE released a 770-page EIA report for a proposed expansion of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Gebeng, Kuantan.

The report is on public display from April 10 to May 9 to solicit public feedback on the project before a decision is made on whether to greenlight Lynas’ expansion plans.

Among others, it was stated that there will be a 16 percent increase in radioactive water leach purification (WLP) residue with the expansion of the plant’s production.

While the public display period is now over, the department is still accepting feedback on the project until May 24.

In the meantime, the report is no longer publicly accessible, nor was it readily downloadable during the public display period.

The exact reason for the policy reversal is unclear, however, Malaysiakini learned that a request for a full soft copy of an EIA report can be made via email to the DOE.

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