Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 5 Jul 19;
PASIR GUDANG: A group of Pasir Gudang residents has accused state authorities and agencies of failing to properly manage the disposal of chemical waste from the Sungai Kim Kim incident in March.
This, they said, had led to the air pollution incident in the district last month, which saw the temporary closure of 111 schools after scores of schoolchildren fell ill.
Pasir Putih Residents Environmental Pollution Action Committee deputy chairman Mohd Rafee Abdullah said it had reason to believe the recent incident was a result of poor chemical waste management in Sungai Kim Kim.
“The waste from the river clean-up was collected and disposed of, while the rest was buried under tonnes of soil.
“And now, it has resurfaced in the form of vapours, which polluted the air and affected residents.”
Rafee said the residents had conducted their own investigation by visiting affected areas and speaking to those working in the industrial plants.
He said they had photographic evidence to back their claims.
He alleged that a factory, which was found responsible for the Sungai Kim Kim incident, had yet to clear out its premises.
“Even now, after it has been shut down, you can still smell chemicals in the air in its vicinity.
“We spoke to people who have worked with dangerous chemicals, as well as staff of the factory, and gathered information on what could have triggered the recent contamination incident.”
Rafee said the committee made attempts to meet and discuss its findings with government authorities, but had been unsuccessful.
“We cannot go on like this. We are not able to send our children to school.
“Some of them will sit examinations, and if this problem is not solved soon, it will affect their grades.”
Johor Department of Environment (DoE) director Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said the department would look into the residents’ claims.
Wan Abdul Latiff said it was possible that the factory, which was ordered to cease its operations after the Sungai Kim Kim incident, didn’t follow the abandonment plan properly.
“It’s possible that there are remaining (chemical) materials, including those that haven’t been properly disposed of.
“I will send a team to inspect the site.”
Wan Abdul Latiff said factories that were decommissioned or shut down were expected to follow an abandonment plan to restore the (environmental conditions of the) site and ensure it was free of potential residual environmental and biohazard effects.
“Every premises that is ordered to shut down must adhere to a notice of abandonment (NOA), and a copy of NOA must be submitted to DoE after clearing out.”
He, however, rejected claims that the recent air pollution incident could be linked to “shoddy” clean-up done in Sungai Kim Kim.
He said waste from the river had been transported to a disposal company in Negri Sembilan, which is the only premises in the peninsula licensed under Section 18 of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 to operate and receive scheduled waste for safe disposal.
“We are sure that it (the claim) is not related. However, DoE will investigate claims that companies may have buried their waste around Pasir Gudang to avoid high disposal costs.
“The only problem is that we do not know where these sites are.”
He urged those with information to share the details with the authorities.
Errant factories in JB warned
remar nordin The Star 5 Jul 19;
JOHOR BARU: Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) has issued a warning to all factories operating in its area to abide by the rules, especially pertaining to public safety.
Mayor Datuk Amran A. Rahman said this would help prevent situations like the chemical pollution currently affecting Pasir Gudang from recurring in the city.
“The incident in Pasir Gudang shows there are some factories out there conducting business without following regulations.
“Their irresponsible actions have led to the public, including children, suffering,” he said in his speech at MBJB’s full council meeting here.
“I have instructed a few departments in MBJB to help in the surveillance operations together with the other agencies under the Disaster Management Committee.
“We have also allowed the use of a MBJB hall as temporary shelter for those affected,” he added.
On another matter, Amran said MBJB would conduct checks at Sungai Danga after an aerial photo of the river went viral, showing the river water had turned black and reports of a stench in the area.
He said the checks would be conducted at Kampung Orang Asli Taman Perling, which was the nearest location to the river.
Besides MBJB, personnel from Iskandar Puteri City Council, Environment Department (DOE) and Indah Water Konsortium will also be involved.
“Sungai Danga comes under the purview of the Irrigation and Drainage Department and preliminary reports by DOE states that the pollution was caused by the final discharge from IWK’s plant in Taman Bukit Indah and Taman Perling.
“However, after monitoring the location using a drone, we found that the change in colour from brown to black only occurred near the IWK plant in Jalan Simbang 19,” he said.
Illegal factories in Pasir Gudang will be closed down: Malaysia minister
Channel NewsAsia 5 Jul 19;
KUALA LUMPUR: As part of efforts to solve the problem of air quality in Pasir Gudang, the Malaysian government will ensure that all factories operating illegally in the area will be shut down.
Speaking in response to a supplementary question in parliament on Thursday (Jul 4), Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said: "Today, I have a meeting with Johor Menteri Besar. We will do something (and) target illegal factories.
"In a month’s time, we will have an integrated operation to shut down all illegal factories in Pasir Gudang."
"I call on Members of Parliament and people in Pasir Gudang to report to the Department of Environment (DOE) any information they have about illegal factories. We will go and close them down," she added.
Yeo stressed that what was needed to solve the problem of air quality in Pasir Gudang was a paradigm shift and a different approach.
The government would also establish automated toxic gas monitoring stations as soon as possible, as well as establish some new compliance measures at industrial premises in Pasir Gudang including installing monitoring equipment, she said.
"The ministry will have a school adoption programme, especially for high-risk schools where their locations are close to the factories and these industries will provide equipment like gas detectors and air purifiers to the schools they are responsible for," she said.
READ: Authorities check air quality at 85 Pasir Gudang schools, cause of pollution still unknown
Meanwhile, gas detectors were distributed to 80 schools in Pasir Gudang on Thursday, said Johor DOE director Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaafar, adding that detectors will eventually be distributed to all 111 schools.
“Our purpose is to educate the schools so that they can measure the air quality. In the event of early detection (high reading), early action can be taken to save students from suffering breathing difficulty, dizziness and vomiting.
“If the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) is high, the school should notify us so that we can bring the Gasmate, a specific equipment that can measure more than 50 parametres,” he said.
Wan Abdul Latiff said the detectors would be temporarily loaned to schools until Sunday, while waiting for the industry itself to supply the tool to their respective adopted schools.
“At present, we are in the midst of discussing with industry players to make it a corporate social responsibility (CSR) to adopt schools and provide multi-gas detectors permanently to (them),” he said.
Wan Abdul Latiff said feedback was received from industry players willing to supply water purifiers to be placed in schools.
He added that teachers have been taught how to use the detectors and are required to record the air quality reading every four hours.
As of 8am on Thursday, the DOE had conducted 172 inspections on chemical factories and those handling hazardous materials around Pasir Gudang.
To date it has issued 98 compounds, 46 notices and nine stop operation orders, in addition to court action being recommended against two factories, said Wan Abdul Latiff.
Source: Bernama/ec
Illegal toxic waste dumps could be responsible for latest Pasir Gudang air pollution, says academic
loh foon fong The Star 4 Jul 19;
KUALA LUMPUR: The authorities should look into the possibility of gases being released from illegal toxic waste dumpsites, besides monitoring discharge from factories and the surrounding areas in Pasir Gudang, Johor, says a toxicologist.
Dr Mustafa Ali Mohd said the possibility of people dumping and burying liquid or solid waste material should be considered since the authorities could not figure out the reason for some 127 students and three teachers from 15 schools experiencing symptoms on Sunday (June 30), the day schools in the area reopened.
“Chemicals could be coming from the ground because some parties may have dumped and buried toxic waste in the ground, which can be emitting the gases,” he said in an interview.
As such, Dr Mustafa, who is also a Fellow at the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, said the authorities should look at clear empty grounds where such illegal dumping could occur.
All kindergartens, schools and institutions of higher learning in Taman Mawar, Pasir Gudang, were ordered to close from Sunday (June 23) until Thursday (June 27) after students suffered breathing difficulties and vomiting.
The incident began on June 20 after 15 students from Sekolah Agama Taman Mawar in Pasir Gudang suffered breathing difficulties and vomiting.
Mustafa also said the use of gas detectors in schools as proposed by the Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim would not be the best method currently, as it needed quite a lot of gas for the alarm to be triggered, like smoke detectors.
“Routine air monitoring, which uses air pumps to pump air through a small pipe and trap chemicals passing through it from the air, is more useful as it is able to detect gases more sensitively compared with gas detectors.
“The air samplers can be placed around the factory areas too. It makes it easier for enforcement personnel to trace the source of pollution,” he said.
On Monday (July 1), Hassan was reported to have asked chemical companies, factories and NGOs to come forward and provide gas detectors at schools around Pasir Gudang as the government teams were already stretched trying to pinpoint the location of chemical pollution in the area.
Mustafa said that routine air monitoring was essential to ensure no trace quantities of toxic gases accumulated in the bodies of people living in industrial areas.
“They should be detected at lower levels because this is the only way to prevent chronic exposures,” he said.
Besides monitoring and treating sudden acute exposure of gases or chemicals in high quantity, which might cause breathing difficulties, chronic exposure from prolonged, small doses of toxic gases also needed to be monitored and studied because the chemicals could be retained in the fat and cause health problems after a certain threshold, he said.
Mustafa said it was more important to carry out routine checks on water and the air particularly in industrial areas because if toxic gasses were detected, the authorities could take action before the gases reach the population.
“They will also know which factory or factories the gases come from,” he said.
Mustafa said that doing random and frequent air and water sampling was more practical and likely cheaper than the cost of evacuating the victims and cleaning the environment.
