Save Sandakan

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I really think these ‘coal plant supporters’ think we here in Sandakan are idiots or weak – they are either threatening us with no power or claiming we know nothing and they have all the answers. Wonder why everywhere i look, i dont see NEWS, STORIES and RESEARCH saying how ‘GREAT’ Coalfire plants are?!?!!!

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Popularity: 1% [?]

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TNB/ SESB/ Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd – PROVE to us that YOU CARE!!

Guess who is the top brass behind Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd, the Company which is still stubbornly persisting to build the highly unpopular coal power plant in Sandakan — which has already been REJECTED on health and safety grounds in Lahad Datu?

Based on a company search done recently, as at  4 feb 2009, the Shareholders and Directors of Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd are:

1. Dato’ Che Khalib Mohamad Noh
   - who happens to be the current President & CEO of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the parent company of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, as well as a Director of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd itself.
   
2. Dato’ Abdul Razak bin Abdul Majid
   - who happens to be the current Senior Vice President (Corp Affairs) of also Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

So, we wonder whether this explains why the TNB top management (including the 2 of them above) seems to be SOOO stubborn and adamant in its plans to build this coal power plant, in Sandakan if not Lahad Datu — despite the fierce objections from over 30,000 residents of Sandakan, and despite the ample avenues to explore other alternative options to increase the supply of electricity to the East Coast of Sabah?

And, we suppose TNB can no longer completely distance themselves from this coal power plant project or to call it an ‘Independent’ Power Plant in any way.

Would it be too far fetch to say that Tenaga Nasional Berhad = Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd = Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd = lovers of coal who are too rich and powerful and deaf to the voices of the Sandakan people?

The Managing Director of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, Ir. Baharin bin Din says:

"Our responsibility is to serve more than 300,000 customers throughout the state and we will continuously improve our services to meet your needs and expectations. We aim to earn your trust – through integrity in conduct and excellence in performance to deliver reliable electricity to your homes and premises.

In order to convey our desire and commitment to you, we will uphold our tagline – SESB Working Harder For Better Power. We will continue our endless effort to serve our valued customers because WE CARE!"

(By the way, note that capital letters ‘WE CARE’ and the exclamation mark ‘!’ at the end there are the ORIGINAL, not added/edited by the author of this post. Hmm… sounds like SESB is really PASSIONATE about CARING for Sabahans!)

Well, it’s time for you to PROVE that you ‘CARE’ by listening to over 30,000 of your customers residing in Sandakan! And it’s time for you to start "Working HARDER For Better Power" by looking for other clean and healthy alternatives such as hydro from Bakun Dam and natural gas, and CALL OFF THE COAL POWER PLANT PROPOSAL!!

Forcing the COAL power plant down our throats is NOT called ‘working HARDER’, and it’s definitely not ‘CARE’. To insist that Sabahans must accept coal looks more like you are ‘working harder’ for and ‘care’ about your own corporate profits only.

You have recently taken over the Bakun Dam project in Sarawak, which is expected to be ready in October 2011.

Furthermore, there will be SOOO MUCH hydro power to be generated in Bakun, Sarawak, that there is even a plan to construct *** 676 kilometres *** of ***submarine cables across the South China Sea*** to transmit power from the Bakun hydro project ALL THE WAY to Peninsular Malaysia!

I’m sure you know that the distance between Miri, Sarawak, to Sandakan, Sabah is only 485 km, and between Sibu, Sarawak to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah is only 624 km, LESS THAN your SUBMARINE cable across the South China Sea!! So, all you need to do if you really CARE about Sabah’s environment and the health of her people is to construct a grid ON LAND to connect Bakun and Sabah — shorter than 676 km and no need to go UNDER-SEA!! Surely, it will cost you MUCH LESS than the submarine cable across the South China Sea!!

Besides, there is also plan to sell the electricity power produced at Bakun to Brunei and Kalimantan, Indonesia, instead of selling this clean and healthy energy to Sabahans (which is part of Malaysia, by the way).

WHAT IS GOING ON ??

Tenaga Nasional Berhad/ Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd/ Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd, TALK IS CHEAP. Stop emitting hot air, start ‘Working HARDER’ to find intelligent and clean solution instead of lazy shortcuts such as coal, and prove that you really ‘CARE’.

The above is written by Anton, a resident of Sandakan WHO REALLY CARES!

Soucres:

• SESB Director’s Message - http://www.sesb.com.my/md_message.cfm
• Bakun Expected To Be Ready October 2011 March 04, 2009 - http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=394001
• Talks On Loan For Bakun Submarine Transmission Cables,  April 28, 2008 - http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=329460 

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Press Statement

‘(Merdeka Daily News, 20 Feb 2009) Sandakan Anti-Coal Power Plant Action Committee, at a press conference held at 10.30 am at the Conference Room of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce in Town, again emphasized that the said Committee does NOT oppose the building of power plant, but only firmly opposes the building of a COAL power plant.’

‘It is expected that once the Environmental Impact Assessment Report has been approved, the project to build the Coal power plant will proceed according to plan.’

‘The Land shall be developed in 2 stages, the first stage involves 400 acres and the second stage 720 acres, and the proposed Coal power plant location is within the first stage 400 acres land, occupying about 42 acres of land.’

‘Wong further pointed out, in the said 42 acres of power plant land, 4 generators shall be installed, the first to be installed on or about October 28, the second December 29, the third Feb 28, 2010 and the fourth June 28, 2010, and the project is expected to be completed in 2012.’
‘He said, if the people of Sandakan do not express their opposition now, once the Environmental Impact Assessment Report is out and approved, then perhaps even the Government is unable to oppose.’

‘Chairman Wong also gave example that in the 2001-2008 Report on Shanxi Province, China, the new born babies who were born with birth defects due to air pollution in that area have increased about 40-145%. This is a worrying figure. Therefore, for the sake of the health of the Sandakan people, they called upon the Government to follow the will of the people, to abandon the building of the Coal power plant, and find other alternative sources of energy . ‘

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Exposing the Myth of Clean Coal Power

By Bryan Walsh Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009

An aerial view shows the aftermath of a retention pond wall collapse at the Tennessee Valley Authorities Kingston Fossil Plant, Monday, Dec. 22, 2008 in Harriman, Tenn. The Tennessee Valley Authority says the 40-acre pond held a slurry of ash generated by the coal-burning Kingston Steam Plant.

Wade Payne / AP

Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009

1) The "clean coal" campaign was always more PR than reality — currently there’s no economical way to capture and sequester carbon emissions from coal, and many experts doubt there ever will be. But now the idea of clean coal might be truly dead,

2) Has polluted the waterways of Harriman with potentially dangerous levels of toxic metals like arsenic and mercury, and left much of the town uninhabitable.

3) Take coal ash, contains significant levels of carcinogens, and that the concentration of arsenic in ash, should it contaminate drinking water, could increase cancer risks by several hundred times. A 2006 report by the National Research Council had similar findings. "This is hazardous waste, and it should be classified as such," says Thomas Burke, an environmental risk expert at Johns Hopkins University who has studied the health effects of coal ash.

4) Coal ash are allowed to dump their leftover sludge in unlined wet ponds that raise the risk of accidents and the toxins in the ash could seep into the soil or groundwater, contaminating drinking water supplies.

5) In reality, we can’t really talk about clean coal — it doesn’t exist

6) climate change, or the health impacts of air and water pollution from coal — remain external, paid for not by utilities or coal companies but society as a whole.

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