From ecicrl!freenet.carleton.ca!ai268 Mon Aug 14 00:10:19 1995 Received: by sandelman.ocunix.on.ca id AA16812 sender ecicrl!freenet.carleton.ca!ai268 (5.65a/IDA-1.4.2); Sun, 13 Aug 95 23:43:37 -0400 Received: by ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Smail3.1.28.1 #6) id m0shqEn-00005xC; Sun, 13 Aug 95 23:30 EDT Sender: ai268@freenet.carleton.ca Received: from Owl.nstn.ca (owl.nstn.ns.ca [137.186.128.11]) by yak.nstn.ns.ca (8.6.12/8.6.9) with ESMTP id AAA13675 for ; Mon, 14 Aug 1995 00:09:51 -0300 Received: from freenet.carleton.ca (root@freenet.carleton.ca [134.117.1.25]) by Owl.nstn.ca (8.6.9/8.6.6) with ESMTP id AAA03037 for ; Mon, 14 Aug 1995 00:09:43 -0300 Received: from freenet3.carleton.ca (freenet3.carleton.ca [134.117.1.22]) by freenet.carleton.ca (8.6.12/8.6.4) with ESMTP id XAA23479 for ; Sun, 13 Aug 1995 23:09:40 -0400 Received: by freenet3.carleton.ca (8.6.12/Sun-Client) id XAA14158; Sun, 13 Aug 1995 23:09:38 -0400 Received: from cdp.igc.apc.org (cdp.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.1]) by freenet.carleton.ca (8.6.12/8.6.4) with ESMTP id TAA07411 for ; Tue, 4 Jul 1995 19:32:31 -0400 Received: from igc2.igc.apc.org (igc2.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.39]) by cdp.igc.apc.org (8.6.12/Revision: 1.203 ) with SMTP id QAA11398; Tue, 4 Jul 1995 16:31:39 -0700 Received: (from patrickirn) by igc2.igc.apc.org (8.6.11/Revision: 1.12 ) id QAA20311; Tue, 4 Jul 1995 16:31:36 -0700 Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 16:31:36 -0700 From: Patrick McCully Message-Id: <199507042331.QAA20311@igc2.igc.apc.org> To: ai268@freenet.carleton.ca, barber@server.uwindsor.ca, csc@web.apc.org, deb@edf.org, dwalker@earth.geology.ubc.ca, earthfirst@igc.apc.org, foedc@igc.apc.org, hrwatchdc@igc.apc.org, hrwatchnyc@igc.apc.org, rainforest@igc.apc.org, wild@edf.org, worldwatch@igc.apc.org Subject: Review of 'Inadequate' Bakun EIA Sender: ai268@freenet.carleton.ca Status: RO /* Written 4:30 PM Jul 4, 1995 by patrickirn in igc:env.dams */ /* ---------- "Review of 'Inadequate' Bakun EIA" ---------- */ INTERNATIONAL RIVERS NETWORK 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703 USA Tel: (510) 848-1155 / Fax: (510) 848-1008 PRESS RELEASE JULY 5, 1995 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF MALAYSIAN DAM BIASED AND INADEQUATE Insufficient to Determine Costs and Benefits of Project International Rivers Network today released a review of the interim Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed Bakun Dam in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. IRN commissioned a team of experts in hydrology, river ecosystems and energy planning to do the review at the request of citizens' groups in Malaysia. The 204 meter (670 ft) tall Bakun hydroelectric dam would be the highest dam in Southeast Asia. Its 2400 megawatt generating capacity would make it the largest power plant in the region. More than 8,000 indigenous people live in the 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of rainforest habitat to be flooded, an area larger than the island of Singapore. Twelve "totally protected" animal species and 93 "protected" species are found in this area. The trapping of river sediments in the reservoir will both reduce power production from the dam, and increase erosion of the downstream riverbed, banks and delta. Water released from the reservoir is likely to be heavily contaminated. The review concludes that the interim EIA has basic methodological flaws, fails properly to address several key issues, and bases its conclusions upon inadequate data. The Bakun interim EIA, says the review, "would not meet internationally accepted standards for environmental assessment" such as those of the World Bank. Patrick McCully, Campaigns Director for International Rivers Network, says: "This EIA is a clear attempt to rubber-stamp a dam which the Malaysian authorities and their friends in big business have already decided to build, no matter the environmental or social costs. Our review shows the interim EIA to be a thick wad of glib assertions, pro- dam bias, and poor science." An EIA is supposed to be a neutral document which decision- makers can use to assess whether the potential environmental costs of a project will outweigh its benefits. It is supposed to describe the costs and potential effectiveness of measures taken to mitigate against negative impacts, and assess alternative methods of achieving the aims of the project. The Bakun interim EIA, however, is openly biased. It accepts that the dam will be built, and blandly assumes, without any supporting evidence or logic, that negative impacts will somehow be mitigated by further studies. The reviewers also criticize the interim EIA for deliberately excluding a full sociological analysis of the people to be displaced by the Bakun reservoir. Numerous studies show that people evicted to make way for dams suffer a serious drop in their living standards. Indigenous people leading subsistence lifestyles, such as those to be resettled because of Bakun, suffer particularly badly when they lose their traditional homes, lands and ways of life. The reviewers conclude that because of the omissions and other serious flaws, the interim EIA "does not provide an adequate assurance to potential investors and lenders to the Bakun Project that the economic benefits of the project will be greater than the overall costs." Only by passing the major environmental costs of the project onto local people, and by providing government subsidies, might the project be considered profitable, the reviewers state. The 9-volume interim EIA was commissioned by Ekran Berhad, the huge Malaysian company which was selected without tender to build and operate Bakun. The powerful chairman of Ekran, Ting Pek Khiing, is a friend of the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud. Two sons of the Chief Minister are major shareholders in Ekran. The environmental assessment of Bakun has been shrouded with secrecy and confusion over which government agency has oversight over the EIA process. The interim EIA is still considered a state secret in Sarawak. Part of the final EIA has recently been made available for public viewing in Sarawak but it has not been possible to make copies of the 300-page report. Activists who have seen the final EIA say it is 'vague' with little detailed information. For more information contact: Patrick McCully Campaigns Director Tel. 510 848 1155 Fax. 510 848 1008 E-mail patrickirn@igc.apc.org _____________________________________________________ A Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment (Interim Report) of the Bakun Hydroelectric Project -- S U M M A R Y -- International Rivers Network (IRN) has been requested by citizens' groups in Malaysia to carry out a review of the adequacy of the interim Environmental Impact Assessment of the Bakun Dam, a 204-meter-high hydroelectric dam proposed for construction on the Balui River in the Upper Rajang Basin in the state of Sarawak. If completed this dam would be the highest and most powerful dam in Southeast Asia. IRN asked a team of experts in hydrology, river ecosystems and energy planning to prepare this review. Following are the main conclusions of the 17-page review. 1. The interim EIA provides useful information on a number of major impacts which would result from the dam. These include: * Serious deterioration of water quality in the reservoir and in the river downstream. * Significant salt water intrusion in the river due to reduced flows downstream of the dam, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people. * Forcible relocation of at least 8,000 indigenous people living in the reservoir area. * A substantial risk of the introduction and spread of waterborne diseases. * A remote but tangible risk of catastrophic downstream flooding due to dam failure. * Degradation of fish habitat and loss of fishery resources downstream of and in the inundation area. * Inundation of 69,640 hectares of terrestrial habitat, significantly affecting 12 totally protected species of fauna and 93 protected species. * Inundation of socially and economically important plant species, including timber and 1,230 species used for medicines, food, fiber and other social uses. Hundreds of millions of dollars in annual timber revenues would be lost. 2. Almost all of the environmental and social impacts identified in the technical reports translate into long-term economic costs that would be borne by the Government of Malaysia and local people rather than the dam owners. 3. Although the interim EIA provides information on impacts of the project its usefulness is severely limited by basic methodological flaws. These include: * An inadequate description of the no-project alternative that apparently includes complete logging of the watershed rainforest whether or not the project is built. * There are no attempts to evaluate alternative methods of energy generation. * A fundamental misunderstanding concerning the purpose of a mitigation measure. Mitigation measures are meant to compensate for or ameliorate environmental damage -- studies, contrary to what is inferred in the interim EIA, do not mitigate for damage. * There is no systematic evaluation of the long-term impacts of the dam, or of the interactions between the various different short- and long-term impacts. 4. The interim EIA is incomplete because it fails to address properly several key issues: * Forcible resettlement of indigenous people living in the reservoir area. This issue was specifically excluded from the scope of the EIA. * The consequences the dam would have on the river estuary, especially the likely increase in coastal erosion and ecological changes caused by reduced flows of freshwater. * The effect of the reduced frequency and duration of floods on the downstream floodplain ecosystem. * The impacts of habitat fragmentation on wildlife populations upstream of the dam. * The magnitude of the loss of fish species upstream and downstream of the dam and how this loss would affect regional biodiversity and local subsistence fishery resources. * Identifying the area downstream at risk due to dam failure. 5. The interim EIA is inadequate because several of its key studies had to rely on inadequate data or did not disclose the substantial uncertainties in their predictions. For example: * The analysis of downstream hydrology and water quality relies on monthly flow averages, whereas the Bakun Dam could have significant effects on daily flows. * Predictions of sediment build-up in a reservoir can easily be an order of magnitude incorrect, greatly affecting predictions of power production and the useful life of the project, and thus affecting project economics. * Projected impacts on fish species are based on limited water quality and hydrological information, and limited knowledge of the migration, reproduction and other behaviour patterns of the relevant fish species. * Mitigation measures proposed are unproven or clearly beyond the capability of the project sponsor to implement. 6. The interim EIA does not adequately explain the rationale for investment in hydrogeneration at this location as opposed to other forms of energy generation at other locations that might better meet Malaysia's power needs. 7. The interim EIA would not meet internationally accepted standards for environmental assessments as adopted, for example, by the World Bank. The separation of the social impact study from the rest of the interim EIA is a major flaw. The interim EIA essentially proposes that the Sarawak State Government dictates terms to the displaced population by deferring negotiations until after the decision to build the dam is made. 8. The interim EIA seldom uses or refers to the extensive experience of assessing the environmental costs of large reservoirs constructed in tropical areas over the last two decades. 9. The interim EIA displays bias towards constructing the project. The interim EIA does not quantify the natural, social or economic costs of the identified impacts of the project, nor does it identify the beneficiaries of the direct and indirect gains. 10. The interim EIA does not provide an adequate assurance to potential investors and lenders to the Bakun Project that the economic benefits of the project will be greater than the overall costs. Only by externalizing major costs, and providing government subsidies might the project be considered profitable. The 17-page review was prepared for International Rivers Network by PHILIP B. WILLIAMS, Ph.D., P.E. (Philip Williams & Associates, Ltd., Consultants in Hydrology) WILLIAM TRUSH (Director, Institute for River Ecosystems, Humboldt State University, California, and McBain & Trush, Consultants in Fluvial Geomorphology) SCOTT McBAIN (McBain & Trush, Consultants in Fluvial Geomorphology) JENNIFER VICK (University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Planning) AGUS SARI (University of California, Berkeley, Energy and Resources Group) ANDREW WILCOX (University of California, Berkeley, Energy and Resources Group) KAREN PLAUT (University of California, Berkeley, Energy and Resources Group). International Rivers Network 1847 Berkeley Way Berkeley, CA 94703 USA Tel: (510) 848-1155 Fax: (510) 848-1008 July, 1995