May 14, 1999
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| May 14, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| Southeast Asia No coal plants here, demand Thai villagers By Prangtip Daorueng BONOK - Residents of this southern Thaivillage still remember the moment in November, when thousands ofpeople poured out into the highway and demanded a stop to plans toput up two coal-fired power plants. The protest ended violently, as hundreds of policemen clashedwith the demonstrators. Sixty-five villagers and policemen wereinjured. But little has changed since. The projects have continued, andland is being prepared for their construction. ''Yes, I threw a stone. But how could I fight with trucks andpolice with tear gas?'' says a fisherman from Bonok village. Today, this fisherman and fellow villagers are still angry,saying the construction of two coal-fired plants in their areaswill wreck the environment and their livelihood. ''Would they move the plant out of the village if it provedharmful later?,'' asks Nipaporn Charoenkrikamol, who brought allher savings from Bangkok to invest in a small resort here in BaanKrud, another village. ''Villagers have been here since long ago,'' she says. ''Suddenlythey were told that an electricity plant would be built in themiddle of their community. The investors have no right to do thisbecause it is against the will of villagers." Bonok and the small fishing village of Baan Krud, both inPrachuab Kiri Kan province in the upper South, have been chosen assites for two coal-fired power plants being built by privateinvestors. Each plant, worth more than $800 million, is due toopen by April 2002. The state's Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)had planned to build a third plant, fueled by lignite, a type ofcoal with lower carbon content, in Thap Sakae district in thesame province. But it has been postponed until 2009, due tofinancial problems. Energy demand in Thailand is falling as the economy is inrecession. But the plans for the three plants are part of a largerdesign by the government's National Economic Social DevelopmentBoard to make Prachuab Kiri Kan an industrial zone. The power plants are part of EGAT's Independent Power Producer(IPP) scheme, which has encouraged private investment into apower sector that used to be dominated by government. One of the two coal projects is a 735-megawatt power plant forBonok, undertaken by the Gulf Generation Company, a joint-venturebetween Gulf Electric (Thailand) and MEC International B.V. (USA). The second is a 1,400-megawatt plant to be built on the beachof Baan Krud village by Union Power Development, a joint-venturecompany between Thai, Japanese, Finnish and American interests. The power projects will bring major changes to the two townsand their environs in Prachuab Kiri Kan province. First, there is a plan to construct elevated structures atboth plants. Intended to stretch 3.5 km into sea, these structureswill be used to transport bituminous fuel shipped from abroad intothe plants. Each plant will also suck up 4.15 million cubic meters of water a day forits use. They will release the used water back into the sea at 34degrees Celsius - a few degrees higher than the normal temperature,which ranges between 29-30 degrees. The warming of the seawater is likely to impact negatively onmarine life, environmentalists say. Environmental impact assessment studies (EIAs)done by theprivate companies pushing the projects say the plants will notbe harmful to the surrounding environment, but villagers andindependent environmentalists think otherwise. ''The sea in both areas is very rich with natural resources.This was not mentioned in the companies' EIAs,'' says ChavalitVidhayanond, an environmental expert from the agriculture ministrywho was invited by villagers to do an independent survey onbiodiversity. Citing a survey he conducted, Chavalit says there are about300 fish species in the area, some of which are sensitive onesthat exist only in conducive habitats. In the sea of Baan Krud, where the plant's bridge is projectedto be built, there are also several species of coral. ''The construction of the bridge will destroy the coral in thearea. But it is not only coral which will be destroyed; speciesof plankton and small fishes will also be gone as they rely oncoral as their habitat,'' he says. The sea's resources have long added to the income for smallfarmers in the two villages. Bonok and Baan Krud each hassome 200 small fishing boats working all year round. ''What we get from one fishing boat can feed 10 people in afamily, and most of us rely on it,'' says 43-year-old BoonyeanWannawong, who has worked on his family's fishing boat since hewas seven. ''I have lived with the sea for all of my life. Our sea isrich, I can say. Without this job, I don't know what we are goingto do,'' he adds. Apart from fishing, Baan Krud also has about 13 small eco-friendly resorts owned by a mix of villagers and outsiders likeNipaporn. Tourists are drawn to the province's twin pleasures of coralunder water and tranquility on the land. Chavalit says that apart from looking into environmental effects,a properly done EIA should include a review of biodiversity andthe project's economic effect on communities. Village leader Somkid Sondhi says the companies' EIAs haveskipped important facts. ''They are lacking details concerningenvironmental facts. I could say the EIAs is a lie,'' he says. Villagers also fear the harmful effects on their health fromsulphur emissions from the planned power plants. They have already gotten a rude reminder of the danger of coal-fired plants from the illnesses suffered by the residents livingaround Mae Moh, an EGAT-run lignite electric plant in Lampangprovince north of Thailand. Similar warnings have been aired about a power plant in KhaoSam Roi Yot national park, in the same province. Activists know that a stop to the two power projects inPrachuab Kiri Kan will be near impossible to achieve. Butvillagers' protests have delayed Union Power Development's $969million loan agreement with the Export Import Bank ofJapan, the main lender in the Baan Krud project. The bank says it wants to discuss local opposition with otherlenders, including the Nordic Investment Bank, Leonia CorporateBank of Finland and several Thai banks. Earlier, villagerssubmitted a petition to the representative of every lender inBangkok, urging them to withdraw. Meantime, a government committee is gathering facts to preparea report prior to the Cabinet's approval of construction licenses. (Inter Press Service) | |||||||||
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