Grainne Ryder
Probe International
April 17, 2009

In a rare legal victory for Thai villagers, a provincial court has ordered Thailand’s national power utility to compensate hundreds of villagers for health problems caused by years of pollution from its Mae Moh power plant in northern Thailand.

On March 4, the Chieng Mai administrative court ordered the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to pay compensation of approximately US$7,000 plus interest to 418 plaintiffs in 19 lawsuits filed by local residents, according to Thai news sources.

Under the court ruling, EGAT is also required to move the affected families to new farmland that is at least five kilometres away from the plant, pay for their relocation costs, and rehabilitate the degraded environment around the Mae Moh lignite mine.

The court found that EGAT had exceeded legal limits for sulphur dioxide emissions between November 1992 and August 1998, and that Mae Moh villagers were entitled to compensation for the harm to their health during this period.

Villagers quoted by The Nation newspaper (March 4) say they are satisfied with the amount of compensation and that justice has finally been served after their five-year legal battle.

Other observers say the amount of compensation is a pittance considering the years of suffering and economic losses inflicted on thousands of villagers around the power plant.

The Mae Moh plant generates about 12 percent of the country’s electricity and about half the supply for northern provinces.

The plant has 13 generating units with a total installed capacity of 2625 MW. Owned and operated by EGAT, the plant and nearby lignite mine was expanded in the 1980s and 1990s with cheap loans from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

Since 1992, thousands of local residents have been reporting severe breathing difficulties, nausea, dizziness, and other health problems caused by inhalation or exposure to sulphur dioxide and toxic chemicals found in coal dust.

When lignite is burned to produce electricity, harmful quantities of sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, mercury, and particulate matter are released into the atmosphere.

EGAT deputy governor Wirat Kanjanapibul was quoted by the March 5th issue of The Nation as saying that EGAT has tackled the pollution problems and that its operations at Mae Moh are in compliance with the country’s environmental laws.

But a 2003 report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency paints another picture. It took EGAT nearly a decade to install emission control devices at just four of the plant’s 13 units, while hundreds of villagers suffered from exposure to sulphur dioxide and particulate matter from the plant and the mine.

The devices known as flue gas desulphurization systems were financed with a US$130 million loan from the Japanese government and have drastically reduced sulphur dioxide emissions since their 2001 installation. Sulphur dioxide levels fell from a range of 352 to 1,919 parts per million in 1998 to between 67 and 105 parts per millions in 2002.

Despite the emissions reductions, Thailand’s ministry of public health reported “no visible improvements” in public health in 2003 because particulate matter emissions from the plant and open-pit lignite mine were still high.

What effect, if any, the March 4th ruling will have on EGAT’s operations and emission control systems is not yet clear.

Commenting on the court’s decision, Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejiajiva, as chairman of the National Environment Board, said only that the court order must be followed.

Earlier this year, the Thai government granted EGAT a new license to increase lignite production at the Mae Moh mine to the year 2035. EGAT deputy governor Suttipong Teppitak told The Nation on January 31st that lignite is an important fuel for electricity generation in Thailand because it can be mined in-country and costs less than electricity produced by gas-fired plants.

Thai NGOs, meanwhile, argue that Thailand has cleaner, better generating alternatives to giant-scale coal plants that wreak havoc on rural communities and their environment.

In any case, the court decision ordering EGAT to compensate its victims is an important precedent in a region where state power utilities are accustomed to polluting with impunity.

As Veera Prateepchaikul of the Bangkok Post writes, “There is no doubt that new investment for industrial development is much needed . . . But, please, no more polluted industries that will contaminate the air we breathe, the water we drink and the land we grow our crops on.”

Sources

1. “Egat wary of appeal,” Watcharapong Thongrung, The Nation, March 23, 2009. [PDFver here]
2. “Rare triumph for the little people,” Veera Prateepchaikul, Bangkok Post, March 5, 2009.
3. “Egat loses Lampang pollution case,” Ekkapong Praditpong, The Nation, March 5, 2009.
4. “Egat ordered to pay compensation over Mae Moh lignite power plant,” The Nation, March 4, 2009. [PDFver here]
5. “Egat gets go-ahead for further Mae Moh mining,” Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul, The Nation, January 31, 2009. [PDFver here]
6. “Mae Mo villagers win case against EGAT,” Bangkok Post, March 4, 2009
7. Flue Gas Desulfurization Plant for Mae Moh Power Plant (Unit 8-11), August 2003 (.pdf format)