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MALAYSIAN lawmakers have approved a two-year operating license for Lynas’ controversial rare earths refinery in Gebeng, but only after setting a series of stringent safety rules.

The parliamentary select committee (PSC) was launched in March, in response to public anger over the RM700m (US$230m) Lynas advanced materials project (LAMP). It pledged to scrutinise the plant’s temporary operating license, and said it would shut the project down if it did not meet safety standards.

After months of deliberation, the PSC finally reported that Lynas’ plans met with all of Malaysia’s health and safety standards. “In fact,” it wrote, “more stringent rules have been imposed on the plant than international standards.”

Despite giving the plant the go-ahead, the PSC did put forward 31 recommendations, asking – among other things – for the creation of an expert committee to oversee the project. These will be introduced alongside the two conditions imposed by Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) earlier this week. Lynas says it has already submitted revised plans, and hopes that the new license will be issued “as soon as possible.”

Nicholas Curtis, Lynas’ executive chairman, welcome the report, saying that the company is “committed to operating in a safe and sustainable manner and to making a significant ongoing contribution to Malaysia.”

Much of the resistance to the refinery stems from a previous rare earth plant in Bukit Merah, which has since been linked to leukaemia and birth defects. Lynas, however, argues that these fears are completely unfounded, and that the old refinery produced waste 100 times more radioactive than LAMP will.

The PSC’s backing has not silenced the project’s numerous critics, however. Tan Bun Teet, a spokesperson for the outspoken ‘Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas’ (SMSL) group calls the report “nothing more than hogwash”, and accuses the government of “desperately trying to justify the controversial project in a last-ditch half-hearted effort to put on a show.”

SMSL is currently embroiled in a separate legal battle with Lynas, with the Australian firm suing the pressure group for defamation. The court case is expected to begin later this month.