Company directors to face trial for disposing oil that led to water cuts

Shah Alam: A company director, his wife and three companies have been slapped with 30 charges under the Environment Quality Act 1974 and the Selangor Waters Management Authority Enactment 1999 for polluting Sungai Selangor that led to water supply cuts affecting some 1.2 million consumers in the Klang Valley on Merdeka Day.

Ng Kim Bok, 55, and his wife H’ng Soo Chiew, 56, together with Muhibbah Mok Sdn Bhd, Muhibbah Mok Workshop and Ng Kim Bok Realty Sdn Bhd, were charged at a Sessions Court here yesterday.

The couple was charged in their capacity as directors of Muhibbah Mok and Ng Kim Bok Realty Sdn Bhd.

Ng also faced charges in his capacity as the sole owner of Muhibbah Mok Workshop.

They were accused of disposing scheduled waste (oil), putting scheduled waste into inland waters, and polluting the land with scheduled waste without license under the Act, while under the Enactment; they were accused of releasing oily waste into a water source, and drawing water from a water source without approval and license.

The offences were allegedly committed at Sungai Bakau and Sungai Gong in Gombak, both tributaries of Sungai Selangor, between 9.50am and 11.40am on Aug 30 and Sept 2.

Ng and H’ng pleaded not guilty and claimed trial before judge Mohammed Mokhzani Mokhtar.

The court fixed bail at RM100,000 for H’ng and RM150,000 for Ng with one surety each. The case is fixed for mention on Oct 10.

DPPs Mohd Ashrof Adrin and Dinesh Raja Dorai Raja appeared for the prosecution while the couple was not represented.

Mohd Ashrof later told reporters that the workshop was located at the spot where the incident took place and Ng Kim Bok Realty owned the land. The workshop’s parent company is Muhibbah Mok Sdn Bhd.

On Aug 31, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) activated its emergency response plan following the closure of four treatment plants due to oil pollution.

Air pollution is behind nearly 200,000 early deaths every year in the United States, according to a new study by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to Steven Barrett, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and the study’s lead author, those who die from air pollution-related causes do so on average 10 years earlier than they otherwise might have.

Published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, the report utilizes emissions data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Emissions Inventory, a catalog of emissions sources nationwide.

The researchers divided this information into electric power generation, industry, commercial and residential sources, road transportation, marine transportation and rail transportation. The team then fed the results into a simulation of the impact of emissions on particles and gases in the atmosphere.

In order to determine which of these emissions represented the greatest impact, the researchers removed each sector from the simulation one at a time, observing the difference in pollutant concentrations as they did so.

Finally, the team overlay the resulting data with population-density maps of the nation to determine which populations were most exposed to each source of air pollution.

California, they found, topped the charts with an estimated 21,000 early deaths every year due to air pollution, largely as a result of road transportation and commercial and resident emissions.

In terms of cities, Baltimore was home to the highest emissions-related mortality rate, with 130 out of every 100,000 residents likely killed each year as a result of poor air quality.

Nationwide, the scientists determined that road transportation is the number one contributor to emissionsrelated deaths, causing some 53,000 deaths annually. This was closely followed by power generation at 52,000 deaths.

“In the past five to 10 years, the evidence linking air-pollution exposure to risk of early death has really solidified and gained scientific and political traction,” Barrett said. “There’s a realization that air pollution is a major problem in any city, and there’s a desire to do something about it.”

The ever changing population dynamics has led to changes in land use and over-utilization of resources.

The mangrove depletion is further exacerbated by rapid economic development…

Ruslan Mohamad, the director of Department of Environment (DOE), said the commendable achievement was in line with efforts to get all concerned in the state to abide by the regulations so waste could be disposed off in a safe and effective manner.

“The government is serious in getting industries…