A GROUP of Batu Arang residents is urging the Selangor government to scrap a proposed waste-to-energy (WTE) plant in Rawang after its environmental impact assessment (EIA) was reportedly rejected for the third time.
The latest EIA for the Sultan Idris Shah (SIS) Green Energy Plant, submitted on Feb 9, was publicly listed as "not approved" on the Environment Department’s (DOE) website.
It also showed a similar outcome for submissions made on April 22 and Oct 31 last year.
Following the DOE rejections, Hand-in-Hand Batu Arang, a group of concerned residents, submitted a memorandum calling for the project’s cancellation.
Group representative Yap Wan Ken said the repeated rejections indicated that the proposal fell short of DOE standards for safety, environment and public health.
"The proposed mitigation measures in the report are insufficient to contain the project's impacts," she said when met at Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam on Monday (March 16).
Some 10 residents handed the memorandum to representatives of Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, environment and public health committee chairman Jamaliah Jamaluddin, and local government and tourism committee chairman Datuk Ng Suee Lim.
However, project proponent KDEB Waste Management denied that the EIA had been rejected, saying it remained under DOE review.
KDEB, in a statement, added that the DOE had requested improved documentation and tabulation of over 12,000 public feedback submissions from the past two years to ensure all input was accurately recorded and properly evaluated.
