Career opportunity in Environmental

Today I met an environmental website which useful for those who wants to expends career internationally.

For more information please visit

http://www.ecojobs.com/

EIA Legislation in Malaysia

The prescribed activity can only carried out once EIA  is approved by the DG

Panalties:

Fine RM100,000 and/or 5 years jail

RM1,000 per day the offence is continued after  notice by DG

Long term mobileuse and the risk of brain cancer

Using mobile phones for more than 10 years doubles the risk of brain cancer, newspapers reported. They suggest that the risk may be greater in children whose thinner skulls and developing nervous system make them more vulnerable.

The Daily Mail reported that “researchers found that long-term users had double the chance of getting a malignant tumour on the side of the brain where they held the handset”.

The stories are based on a review of studies that looked at the difference in mobile phone usage between people with and without brain tumours for more than a 10 year period.

The authors found 11 studies on people who had used mobile phones for more than a decade. Some of these showed that mobile phone use significantly increased the risk of some types of brain cancer while others did not.

Further perspective is given to this by data from Cancer Research UK, which suggests that “brain tumours” are rare and occur in less than seven in 100,000 people.

Contrary to newspaper reports, this review did not find that children are at greater risk of cancer from mobile use. The review did not look specifically at children and it would not be possible to come to this conclusion. These headlines originated from a comment by one of the authors.

However, the Stewart Report, a government sponsored independent review, recommended in 2004 that the use of mobiles by children should be minimised as a precautionary measure. This recommendation is endorsed by the findings from the 2007 MTHR Report, which found that although there was no evidence that mobile phones were associated with adverse effects in adults, further research is still needed for their use by children, and for their long-term use by adults. Proposals for the MTHR 2 study that begins in 2008 include epidemiological studies of the risk of brain tumours in children.

read more...

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2007/October/Pages/Longtermmobileuseandtheriskofbraincancer.aspx

Environmental Auditing in Environmental Management Plan

The ISO 14010 standard defines an environmental audit as;

"Systematic, documented verification process of objectively obtaining and evaluating audit evidence to determine whether specified environmental activities, events, conditions, management systems or information about these matters conform with audit criteria, and communicating the result of this process to the client"

The key elements in the environmental audits includes
- systematic
- documented
- verification process
- objective
- evaluating audit evidence
- activities, events, conditions, standards, EMP specification- communication of results

Environmental Auditing (compliance) is a key 'checking' step to ensure that the project proponent and contractors implement and adhere to the environmental requirement specified in the EMP. Typical audit criteria include:

a- EIA approval conditions by DOE, NREB, contract tender specifications
b- Standars and guidelines enforced by DOE
c- Other requirements, policy, ets

The Environmental auditing procedures should be in line with the requirements of ISO 14000 standards. The approach typically involves:
- Document review
- site inspection
- interviews

This typically covers
- monitoring data
- minutes of meetings
- correspondence with DOE
- latest site drawings
- project schedule updates
doe

List of Prescribed Activities (Extract from the Environmental Quality (Prescribed Activities)(EIA)Order 1987)

1. Agriculture
2. Airport
3. Drainage and Irrigation
4. Land Reclamation
5. Fisheries
6. Forestry
7. Housing
8. Industry ; chemical, Petrochemicals, Non-ferrous, Aluminum, Copper' Other ( Non metallic, iron and steel, shipyards, pulp and paper, industry)
9. Infrastructure
10.Ports
11.Mining
12. Petroleum
13. Power Generation and Transmission
14. Quarries
15. Railways
16. Transportation
17. Resort and Recreational Development

Sarawak's Natural Resources and Environment (Pescribes Activities) Order 1994

Sarawak's Natural Resources and Environment, Order 1994 makes it mandatory for project proponents and/or developers to carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on activities having impact on the environment and natural resources.

The following activities, which are the Prescribed activites contained in the First Schedule of the Order require the conduct of EIA

1. Agriculture Development
2. Logging
3. Development of Commercial Industrial Housing Estates
4. Activities Which May Pollute Inland water or Affect Sources of Water Supply
5. Fisheries and Activities Which May Endanger Marine or Aquatic Life, Plants in Inland Waters or Erosion of River Banks
6. Extension and Removal of Rock Materials and Mining
7. Any Other Activities Which May Damage or Have an Adverse Impact on quality of Environment or Natural Resources of the States

Understanding an Environmental Management Plan (EMP)

A key outcome of EIA process will be an EMP which:

- Identifies key potential project impact areas
- Set out the programme for monitoring and auditing the potential impacts
- Establishes reporting and mitigation (including emergency) response procedure

The purpose of EMP is to get a perspective of Environmental management of the project, the proponent should prepare the master EMP for the whole project. The main contractor can then prepare specific EMPs for their specific contract packages which fits into the overall EMP.

EMP's typically contain the following:
a- A concise statement of purpose and policy
b- A summary the key potential impacts of the project. this should be written in simple language for the layman
c- A list of legal requirement, standards and guidelines which applies to the project
d- A detailed programme for execution of environmental works which is integrated with the ocerall project programme. This typically includes management of soil erosion, siltation , air, water pollution and hazardous substances
e- Environmental objective and targets
f- Clearly defined structure with roles and responsibilities for environmental management
g- Training and qualification requirements for key staff, i.e environmental auditors
h- Clear lines for communication regarding environmental management matters
i- Specific document and operation control procedures eg. specific methods and guidelines to control the identified impacts
j- Emergency response and event contigency plans with specified trigger levels
k- Environmental monitoring programme and procedures
l- Environmental records
m- Environmental auditing programme and protocol
n- Management review

EIA Procedure in Malaysia

There are three major steps in EIA procedure

STEP 1: Preliminary Assessment
- the initial assessment of impact of prescibed activities
- initiated at the pre-feasibility stage of the development activity
- the stage that project options are identified and significant residual impacts are made known
- the preliminary EIa report is prepared and reviewed by DOE (Department of Environment) internally at state level
- assistance fir reviewing may be sought from other government and non-government agencies

STEP 2: Detailed Assessment
- is undertaken for projects where significant residual environment impact have been predicted in the preliminary stage
-continues during the feasibility stage of the project
-detailed EIA report submitted to DOE headquarters for review and approval prior to the project being approved to proceed
-Term of reference prepared y an ad hoc reviewal panel
- EIA reviewed by ad-hoc panel chaired by DG

STEP 3: Reviewed
- Recommendation from the review is transmitted to the relevant project approving authority for consideration in the decision making process
- DOE maintains a list of experts who may be called to sit on Review panels. The selection is based on the areas of environmental impacts to be reviewed.

List of EIA Guidelines in Malaysia

Section 34A specifies that EIA reports shall be in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by the Director General. The key Guideline material is a 'handbook of EIA Guidelines and Procedures' published by Depatrment of Environment (DOE). In addition EIA guidelines for spesific sectors have been produced and the following are currently available at DOE.

EIA's typically takes 2 to 6 months to prepare, depending on the size and complexity of the Project.

1. EIA Guidelines for Toxic and Hazardous Treatment and disposal Projects EG 13.95
2. EIA Guidelines for Development of Hill Resort & Hotel Facilities in Hill
stations EG 8/95
3. EIA Guidelines for Municipal Solid waste & sewerage Treatment & disposal Projects EG 12/95
4. EIA Guidelines for Drainage and Irrigation Projects EG 3/95
5. EIA Guidelines for Mines and Quarries EG/795
6. EIA Guidelines for Dams and / or Reservoir Projects EG 5/95
7. EIA Guidelines for Coastal Resort Projects EG 5/95
8. EIA Guidelines for Thermal Power Generation and Transmission Project EG/95
9. EIA Guidelines for Fishing Harbours or Land Based aquaculture Projects EG/95
10. Penilaian Kesan Alam Sekeliling bagi Pembangunan Padang Golf EG 8/95
11. EIA Guidelines for Groundwater and/ or Surface Water Supply Projects EG 1/95
12. EIA Guidelines for Petrochemical Industries EG 6/95
13. EIA Guidelines for Industrial Estate Development EG 7/94
14. EIA Guidelines for Development of Tourist & Recreational Facilities In National Parks EG 9/95
15. EIA Guidelines for Development of Tourist & Recreational Facilities on Islands In Marine Parks EG/10/95
16. EIA Guidelines for Industrial Projects EG 11/95
17. EIA Guidelines for Sitting and Zoning of Industries EG 11/94
18. A handbook of EIA Guidelines
19. EIA Guidelines for the Management & Disposal of Waste in Upstream Petroleum Industries EG 9/94
20. Guidelines for the Management & Disposal of Waste in Downstream Petroleum Industries EG 9/94
21. Soil Erosion and Control Guidelines
22. EIA Guidelines for Forestry Projects

Radiation level and its effects

Source:http://themalaysianinsider.com/world/article/how-much-radiation-is-dangerous/March 15, 2011



TOKYO, March 15 — Japan asked local governments to make more frequent radiation checks after explosions at two nuclear reactors, with reports of radiation levels nine times normal briefly detected in Kanagawa near Tokyo.

Below are some facts about the health dangers posed by higher radiation levels.

1.Chief Cabinet Minister Yukio Edano said radiation levels near the stricken plant on the northeast coast reached as high as 400 millisieverts (mSv) an hour, thousands of times higher than readings before the blast. That would be 20 times the current yearly level for some nuclear-industry employees and uranium miners.

2.Exposure to 350 mSv was the criterion for relocating people after the Chernobyl accident, according to the World Nuclear Association.

3.People are exposed to natural radiation of about 2 mSv a year.

4. Airline crew flying the New York-Tokyo polar route are exposed to 9 mSv a year.

5. Exposure to 100 mSv a year is the lowest level at which any increase in cancer is clearly evident. A cumulative 1,000 mSv would probably cause a fatal cancer many years later in five out of every 100 persons exposed to it.

6. A single 1,000 mSv dose causes radiation sickness such as nausea but not death. A single dose of 5,000 mSv would kill about half of those exposed to it within a month.

7. Very acute radiation, like that which happened in Chernobyl and to the Japanese workers at the nuclear power station, is unlikely for the population,” said Lam Ching-wan, a chemical pathologist at the University of Hong Kong.

For the latest news on Japan’s nuclear crisis, go to http://www.world-nuclear.org/ — Reuters

Tsunami tragedy and exploded nuclear power plant

This post was issued by me last year... as my concern to japan Tsunami tragedy and blast hits its Nuclear power plant.

Depending what you useit for, nuclear energy can be good (or bad). If you use it for peaceful purposes, then I am all for it. If it is making weapons, missiles and other things, then this is the wrong use for it.

My only concern is with nuclear energy itself and all the hazards associated, environmental and health, and the cost involved. Today with the climate change, nuclear energy is not the answer. Renewable sources of energy, changing lifestyle and sustainable development is part of the answer as well the energy efficiency and energy conservation

Nuclear energy is not a clean source. That is a terrible fallacy. Why? The use of nuclear energy is what do we do to dispose of radioactive waste, which lasts for thousands and thousands of years. Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years! What is that? 240 centuries, 24 millennia. If prehistoric man started out with nuclear energy, today we would still be managing his waste. Here we are talking about radioactive waste forever

My greatest concern is the disposable of radioactive waste. Secondly, there are so many fallacies about the cost of nuclear energy. Nobody can say it cheap.

eTo have an energy mix between all sort of energy is must as depletion of fossil fuel, we will not have the energy we need. Of course we can reduce the pressure of the demand for energy through prudent use and becoming more efficient.