Map Ta Phut

[Bruce551]

Map ta phut pollution-control zone waiting in the wings

* Published: 2/02/2010 at 12:00 AM

* Newspaper section: Business

Not wanting to appeal the verdict of a provincial court in favour of local villagers, the National Environment Board (NEB), on May 1, 2009, declared the Map Ta Phut area a pollution-control zone.

The lawsuit predated the Bangkok court case that froze the 76 projects last September.

Section 59 of the Environment Act empowers the NEB to name an area - distressed by pollution problems which could be harmful to the health of residents or the local environment - a pollution-control zone with special measures to curb the contamination.

The provincial governor wields the power in announcing into law the special measures, legalised by the Environment Minister, which set higher standards than regular pollution-control measures - non-compliance with either of the measures can ultimately lead to the suspension or closure of the factories in operation.

Futuristic special measures: The administration officials, realising the impact that suspending the industrial projects had, do not wish to exacerbate the problems by announcing the special measures just yet. In keeping the new measures in check, the administration is walking a tightrope - balancing environmental protection with the need to woo foreign investors.

Ultimately, it will be forced to announce the special measures through the local governor when the current industrial suspension is resolved, if not pressured to do so sooner by another round of litigation from non-governmental organisations.

Compliance with these future measures might increase costs for project owners in the event they are required to adjust their existing systems or install new air-pollution control and treatment equipment. The additional cost would unavoidably affect the company's funding arrangements with its shareholders and banks. Until the special measures are announced, no one can estimate the cost.

Less stringent will be provincial mitigation plans, charted for the pollution control zone by local authorities, detailing the quantity, nature and sources of pollution, as well as an action plan to deal with it.

In parallel with the special measures for industries to comply with, the provincial plan marks the state's direct involvement in remedying the environmental and health effects.

Provincial mitigation plan: This local plan for the Map Ta Phut pollution-control zone is currently in place and set to be implemented. The plan outlines state projects to be funded by the government's annual budget and the Thai Khem Khaeng second economic stimulus package (SP2).

The plan identifies over 1,700 factories in Rayong, where Map Ta Phut is located, as sources of industrial pollution and a black mark for the country's economic and social growth hub.

The arrival of workers from other provinces, taking full advantage of the job opportunities, is straining medical and public facilities designed to handle a much smaller population.

Contamination of water resources exceeds legal standards for a range of pollutants from chemicals to bacteria. Proposed pollution-reducing measures include stricter policing of waste water discharged from factories, improving community waste water-treatment facilities, installing oxygenators in some water resources and establishing a local environmental group to report on environmental degradation.

Rubbish collection and disposal systems are another form of pollution-control projects that local authorities have the capability to undertake.

Air monitoring stations: Even with reports of high rates of respiratory illnesses in the area, several air-monitoring stations in the industrial area suggest that levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide reduced in the three years up to 2009 and are now within legal limits. Only ozone and dust particles smaller than 10 microns occasionally exceed limits.

But in the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate itself, emissions from 267 chimneys belonging to the 64 factories, which previously satisfied each project's environmental impact assessment, will now cause sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide levels to exceed the permitted limits for the area as a whole.

In 2005, Greenpeace Southeast Asia inspected air pollution in the industrial estate and found cancerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as vinyl chloride, dichloroethyl sulfide and chloroform, far higher than the acceptable levels in the United States - a symbol of air quality in crisis.

Given the air-pollution crisis in Map Ta Phut, it is almost certain that the provincial governor will pass the new law and its special measures to curb pollution. The governor just has to wait for the green light from the central administration.

The local administration, in its mitigation plan to improve air quality in the pollution-control zone, has requested funding from the Thai Khem Khaeng scheme for fiscal 2010-12 to build an alarm system and a fixed air-quality monitoring station, as well as to purchase a mobile vehicle to monitor the level of VOCs and to create a communications network to disseminate emergency messages in the community.

Wirot Poonsuwan is a lawyer with his own firm, Poon & Poon, Attorneys-at-Law and can be reached at 02-633-8867 or [email protected].

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/32141/map-ta-phut-pollution-control-zone-waiting-in-the-wings

IMHO, the Japanese are the major investor in Map Ta Phut, they build these industrial chemical plants in Thailand because they can bribe Thai officials to look the way regarding environmental regulation. The Japanese could not build the same plants in Japan because pollution regulation are much more strict.

:!:

[Bruce551]

Postbag,

People first, not industry

Throughout history, right from the first industrial revolution in Europe and America over a century ago, we've learnt that behind the rosy picture painted by this so-called first-world way of life there are also some very ugly residuals with a lasting impact imprinted into the core of society, which require extensive and costly remedial action for future generations to grasp.

So it is not very surprising to see why the Map Ta Phut saga facing this country will surely be just one of the many to come, because it has reached a point that the average citizen of this country will no longer be so submissive to the authorities and let them do (or not do) whatever the industrialists want.

Of course, the big industries affected will try every which way to force the government to ''do something'' about the Administrative Court's ruling, but this doesn't mean that the government has to act so submissively and try to accommodate their wishes.

The government, from the PM down to all the officials of the IEAT, must not forget that they are accountable to the citizens of this country and not to anyone else.

And it would be so wrong for the government to do anything else except to force those 64 ventures that have been halted by the court order, to comply with the environment and health issues as soon as possible, instead of trying to threaten us with relocating their projects to the Moon or wherever.

VIC PHANUMPHAI