Egat mulls Supreme Court ruling on Mae Moh plant

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) says it is reviewing the Supreme Administrative Court’s orders to minimise the health and environmental damage caused by the Mae Moh lignite power plant in Lampang.

However, it is already chafing at the court’s order that it turn a golf course at the mine back into forested land.

Egat’s deputy governor Prapas Vichakul said his company’s legal team is examining the ruling with various authorities to ensure any new decisions will be in line with the court’s demands. The company would follow the court’s orders within the 90-day timeframe given.

The Supreme Administrative Court, in a ruling read on Tuesday at the Chiang Mai Administrative Court, ordered the Egat to turn its golf course at the plant in Lampang — adjacent to the mine — back into a forest.

It also wants safeguards introduced to protect villagers from the plant’s air pollution, such as ensuring that soil dump sites are at least 50m downwind of communities.

The Mae Moh Occupational Health Patients’ Rights Network, which took the case to court in 2003, was present in court for the ruling.

They are happy with the new safeguards, but say they are disappointed the ruling does not extend to granting them the compensation they had sought, and which a lower court had backed.

Mr Prapas said there would be no need to demolish the golf course built on part of the mine. The Egat team has to investigate whether reforesting the course will in fact restore safe and healthy conditions at the mine, in line with the court’s ruling, he added.

Egat’s 500-rai golf course and garden was built for recreational reasons, and complies with the standard requirements for mining operations, he said.

The court had also ordered Egat to install an 800-metre water curtain across dump sites from east to west, to reduce dust particles in the air. Mr Prapas said Egat had appealed to the court against its ruling over the water curtain on the ground it may not be needed if it tweaks mine operations to improve air quality. The golf course is thought to be still open as usual.

The court also reversed the lower Administrative Court’s decision in March 2009 to compensate locals for health problems caused by the power plant’s operations. Under the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision, they stand to get no recompense for being exposed to pollution at the mine.