Anti-coal protesters demand govt goes ‘back to square one’
An anti-coal protest group has insisted that the environmental and health impact study processes for the controversial coal-fired power plant project in Krabi must go “back to square one”, with neutral parties brought in to conduct the studies.
The Save the Andaman from Coal Network yesterday issued a statement demanding the environmental health impact assessment (EHIA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand’s (Egat) 800-megawatt coal-fired plant project be renewed.
The group said renewal of the processes must be in compliance with the 1992 Environment Act which stipulates that they must be carried out to assess other alternatives for development that are fitting to a particular area.
An independent panel comprising neutral members drawn from specialists must be set up to oversee the processes, the group said.
The group also called for a neutral legal entity to be appointed to conduct the EIA and EHIA studies, instead of allowing Egat to hire a company to conduct the studies.
In carrying out the studies, they must cover strategic environmental assessments to ensure that a coal-fired power plant will be able to correspond to the Krabi development plan and to come up with other energy alternatives such as renewable energy, with as much detailed information as that of the coal-fired power plant.
The group said negative consequences the power plant project will have on the environment and people must be studied based on research from credible and independent scholars.
The group insisted that the process of public participation must comply with ministerial regulations on the environmental and health impact studies without the state using its authority to mobilise the support of people.
In renewing the EIA and EHIA processes, the studies must be strictly conducted on an area recognised as worthy of conservation such as a Unesco Ramsar environmental treaty site, not a general area.
This means the studies would involve many details to assess and could take three to five years to complete.
Krabi is also a Ramsar site and comes under the Ramsar Convention, formally the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, signed in Ramsar, Iran in 1971.
The relevant wetlands in Krabi are in Muang and Nua Khlong districts, the latter being the proposed site of the coal-fired power plant.
The group said that if the studies comply with rigorous academic procedures, it will be impossible for any coal-fired power plant — whether in Krabi or anywhere else on Earth — to materialise because there is no technology to reduce the impacts of a coal-fired power plant.
On Tuesday, the government ordered Egat to renew the process of public participation in environmental and health impact studies before deciding whether the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Krabi can proceed.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted that the government is not backtracking on the power plant project, but has delayed it pending a tripartite committee consideration.
He said the EHIA and EIA processes, which have previously been delayed, will go ahead, though efforts must be made to clarify any misunderstandings, with the tripartite committee stepping in to help solve the problem.
The committee, comprising representatives of state agencies, including Egat, the National Legislative Assembly, and power plant protesters, was set up on Dec 17 last year to study the problem when anti-coal gatherings in Bangkok reached a peak.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the cabinet decided the project must adhere to a resolution by the National Energy Policy Committee and proceed with related processes before the cabinet decides it can go ahead.