mei mei chu, lo tern chern, and rena lim The Star 22 Mar 19;
KUALA LUMPUR: The operation to clean Sungai Kim Kim will cost the authorities more than RM10mil, says Yeo Bee Yin.
The Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister said the cost of removing the toxic pollution in the 1.5km stretch of the river cost RM6.4mil.
"It is RM6.4mil for the clean-up alone. This does not include the movement of the officials and all that," she said at a press conference at the inaugural Malaysian Industrial Development Berhad (MIDF) Green Conference yesterday.
It was previously reported that the clean-up operation for Sungai Kim Kim included 900 tonnes of soil and 1,500 tonnes of polluted water.
Yeo said the Sungai Kim Kim toxic waste dumping incident was a wake-up call for enforcement and environmental laws to be strengthened.
She said the ministry was working with the Attorney General to make the culprit pay for the clean-up costs.
"The AG's Chambers is still looking at how to make this (happen) due to current limitations of the existing law," she said.
"That is why we need to review the law. I want to make people who can pay (for polluting the environment) to pay for it," she added.
Yeo said the government was now looking at introducing a new law to compel environmental polluters to pay for clean-up costs.
"The Malaysian Bar says the person who pollutes can pay – but if the culprit is a lorry driver, for example, how are you going to force them to pay RM6.4mil? They will be declared bankrupt and the government will still have to pay for the mess," she said.
She stressed that strong enforcement is important to prevent pollution.
In 2018, the government only issued about RM2.5mil in fines from 159 court cases and issued 2,200 compounds, she said.
Yeo said that while the Environmental Quality Act was already being reviewed, the Sungai Kim Kim incident would speed up the tabling of the law in Parliament.
"Sungai Kim Kim is a wake-up call for us on how to take care of our environment, and for the government to strengthen enforcement and environmental law, and for the public to report suspicious activities," she added.
You pollute, we clean, you pay: New laws mulled to tackle environmental pollution
Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 21 Mar 19;
KUALA LUMPUR: The government is exploring the possibility of introducing a law to compel those who pollute to pay for the cleanup operations and other damage that they cause.
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the law would be part of the proposed amendment to the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
She said instead of focusing only on individuals who had commit the crime, the new law would also look into punishing companies that failed to monitor their scheduled waste disposal.
“Polluters must pay for the mess, but what if the culprits are lorry drivers?” she said.
“How do we force them to pay millions in damages?
“They would be declared bankrupt and the government would still have to pay for the mess.
“What we want to do in the new law is make the companies who don’t monitor their waste pay for it,” she told a press conference after attending the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Research Bhd Green Conference.
Yeo said last year the government only booked 159 cases with a total of RM2.5 million in fines issued.
Asked when the new law would be introduced, Yeo said her ministry was working on the matter and was in close contact with Attorney-General Tommy Thomas.
“Review of the law will take some time. What happened in Pasir Gudang will surely help to speed up the tabling of that law in Parliament,” she said.
The Johor state government has so far spent RM6.4 million on the cleanup and on financial aid to victims affected by toxic fumes from the chemical waste dumped into Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang.
Yeo said it was estimated that the Sungai Kim Kim cleanup would cost more than RM10 million.
“The pollution cleaning service alone cost RM6.4 million for the 1.5km polluted stretch of Sungai Kim Kim.
“The pollution has been going on for years. This was established after the discovery of blackish residue in the river basin,” she said.
The pollution in Sungai Kim Kim has affected more than 6,000 people and led to the closure of 111 schools.
Yeo said checks by the Department of Environment had found that the 46 dump sites in Pasir Gudang detected using satellite data were not sources of toxic poisoning.
“Nevertheless, the ministry has issued a notice to the state government and local council for them to clean up the dump sites immediately,” she said.
