Tuesday 25 September 2012

Court granted interim suspension of the Lynas’ Temporary Operating Licence (TOL)


Press statement of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL)
Court granted interim suspension of the Lynas’ Temporary Operating Licence (TOL)
September 25th, 2012
Earlier today at the Kuantan High Court, SMSL was granted an interim stay for its application to suspend the Lynas TOL. Essentially the TOL has now been temporarily suspended by Justice Mariana Yahya pending the court decision on 4th October in ten days’ time.

Mr Tan Bun Teet, an applicant to revoke the TOL and a spokesperson for SMSL lamented, “This is a small step in the right direction.  We hope that the court will grant a longer stay on the suspension on 4th October until our earlier judicial review applications are properly assesses and the appropriate judgement made later.”

On the 28th August the Kuantan High Court accepted the following two judicial applications from SMSL:
1. To revoke the temporary operating licence granted by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) on 30th January to the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) on the ground that no detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) was done and that a fresh radiological impact assessment (RIA) and a radioactive waste management plan (RWMP) should have been submitted to AELB for approval before the TOL was granted. This application was lodged on behalf of Kuantan residents Mr Tan Bun Teet, Encik Syed Talib Syed Sulaiman and Puan Hasimah Ramli by their lead counsel Bastian Vendargon.

2. To review the decision of the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) not to revoke the Lynas temporary operating licence following an appeal by a group of Kuantan residents who together with their legal representative and experts, appeared before the MOSTI panel with evidence of risks and harm of the project earlier this year on April 17th. This application was lodged on behalf of Kuantan residents Haji Ismail Abu Bakar and Tan Ah Meng by their lawyer R.S. Pani.

“Today’s interim suspension of the Lynas TOL by Justice Yahya is a welcome gesture.  Of course this is only a very temporary relief and a tiny win.  We have a long way to go yet to Stop Lynas.  Kuantan is a clean and peaceful place.  We do NOT want a polluting rare earth plant in our town.”  Commented Haji Ismail Abu Bakar.

Tomorrow 26th September SMSL lawyers will return to the KL High Court to discuss the management of the Lynas defamation case against SMSL.  Lynas has earlier failed to get an injunction to gag SMSL.  SMSL maintains that the statement made in an open letter to the Prime Minister of Malaysia has been made in the interest of the public and Malaysia’s natural environmental as well as local health and livelihoods.  The statement is based on fair comments and advice from various experts.

The public will be waiting anxiously because we do not wish to have a world-scale rare earth plant in our backyard.” Concluded Mr Tan

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