Now it’s ‘cut and paste’ EIA reports

LUMUT: The "cut and paste" syndrome has now been found in environmental impact assessments (EIA) reports, which shows that some consultants have been unethical and have not made a real study, said the Perak Department of Environment (DOE).

There were cases where consultants copied directly from EIAs of other projects, said state DOE deputy director (development) Norazizi Adinan yesterday.

"I have examples, but I won’t reveal them because it will make matters worse," he said at a seminar to increase the comprehension and quality of EIA reports at Teluk Batik near here.

There was also reports which had poor graphics, including the topography maps, figures, photographs, graphs, contour and terrain maps. Norazizi added that some even omitted facts such as the presence of squatters and asked the DOE to "assume that they aren’t there".

Norazizi also complained of inconsistent information submitted in the EIA, differences in the translation of the executive summary, the lack of in-depth analysis and the failure of consultants to provide additional information as requested by the department.

"I’m sorry to have to say this, but some consultants are not prepared to make a presentation because they don’t even know the contents of their own report."

Norazizi said some failed to comply with specific EIA guidelines and depended on DOE officers to do the checks and corrections.

Due to the report problems and the poor quality reports, 34 of the 120 reports submitted to DOE Perak between 2000 and last year were rejected, he said.

Norazizi estimated that about 10 per cent of the 26 reports submitted this year suffered the same fate.

Asked to rate the quality of EIA reports, Perak DOE director Abu Hasan Mohd Isa said that they were neither excellent nor good, but merely "fair" and had room for improvement.

The consultants, hired by the project owners, emphasised the positive elements of the project and hid the negative elements.

DOE would begin blacklisting unethical consultants by Oct 1 and only accept EIA reports from registered consultants.

State Environment Committee chairman Datuk Tan Chin Meng, when launching the seminar, said EIA reports should not be viewed as a document to fulfil legal requirements, but should contain realistic and comprehensive studies on all elements of the environment.

Earlier, Norazizi said DOE officers were also involved in making an EIA reports for projects of public importance and that the long approval process were due to late submissions, difficulties in getting a date for pre-EIA visits with consultants and incomplete reports.

There were pressures from both state interests and developers for the DOE to approve the EIA report, leading to some projects not being sufficiently studied, he said.

Part of the problem was also because environmental concerns were not incorporated into national and regional policies and programmes but only considered when planning and implementing specific projects, he said