Dairy farmers say coal plant threatens public health

A group of local people living on the site of a controversial coal plant project in Saraburi province have threatened to take a legal action against the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) if it grants the company a licence.

The group said the project’s environment and health impact assessment (EHIA) study was carried out without gathering sufficient feedback and other information.

The move comes as the commission mulls granting a licence for the 150-megawatt plant in Kaeng Khoi district, which critics say could jeopardise local people’s livelihoods who depend on farming and tourism.

There are also fears that air pollution from the plant could adversely impact their health and the environment.

A committee of experts f rom the National Office of National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep) approved the study last year. It was later forwarded to the ERC, the body authorised to grant the licence.

Around 70 people, mostly farmers living in Muak Lek district, submitted a letter to the ERC yesterday expressing their opposition to the project.

Supaporn Malailoy, a lawyer with the Environmental Litigation and Advocacy for the Wants (EnLAW), said local people who are impacted by the project will file a court complaint unless the ERC heeds their cal.

They said it is illegal for the commission to consider the project without a proper EHIA.

“We have many concerns about the EHIA study, especially the impact [of the coal plant] on people living nearby. Many important points regarding health and the environment were missing from this study,” she said.

She said there no consideration, for example, of exposure to toxic chemicals, especially for sensitive groups like young children and the elderly.

The scale of the study also failed to cover all of the impacted persons, she said. It covered a radius of five kilometres from the project site, which fails to take into account the full reach of the polluted air, she added.

TPI Polene Power Public Co Ltd, which is running the project, has already started building the plant despite not having the licence, which could make it liable for certain penalties.

Suwit Thammongkul, who owns a dairy farm in Muak Lek district, said that the dairy business will be heavily affected by the project.

Muak Lek provides one third of the country’s dairy production.