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. Its 2400 megawatt generating capacity would make it the largest power plant in the region. 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. 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.