News

The Nation 28 November 2017

Opponents of Thepha coal-fired plant disrupt Prayut’s Songkhla trip

A SCUFFLE between security officers and Thepha coal-fired power plant opponents occurred yesterday in downtown Songkhla, reportedly resulting in minor injuries and 10 people being taken to the local police station.

The confrontation occurred the day before a mobile Cabinet meeting scheduled for today in Songkhla. The power plant opponents had marched over 80 kilometres from Thepha district in an attempt to meet Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to hand him a formal complaint against the project.

The Nation 28 November 2017  

An oil tanker exploded inside a factory at the Amata Nakhon Industrial Estate in Chon Buri on Tuesday afternoon, injuring three workers, police said.

Police said the explosion occurred at 1.30pm after a blaze started during the unloading of oil from a tanker to a storage tank.

Vienam Net 27 November 2017

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs have announced the result of the investigation at Samsung Vietnam that was accused of mistreating workers by Sweden's International POPs Elimination Network.

Nguyen Tien Tung, chief inspector at the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said they had sent two teams to inspect Samsung's factories in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces. 

Bangkok Post 26 November 2017

The government has been urged to make a serious effort to combat persistent organic pollutants (POPS), toxic byproducts from industrial processes, from damaging the environment after a recent study found unsafe levels of POPs in eggs collected near factories in Samut Sakhon and Khon Kaen.

Though the levels of POPs were not alarming, levels of contamination in eggs from free-range chickens were "rather high", suggesting some types of POPs are entering the food chain, according to the study, unveiled by environmental groups Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH) and the Czech-based Arnika Association.

The Nation 24 December, 2017 | Thanapat Kitjjakosol

A waste-stabilising building within the compound of a factory for industrial and toxic waste disposal in Sa Kaew’s Watthana Nakhon district has been temporarily closed following a fire on Saturday.

The Nation 24 November 2017 | Charoon Thongnual

Some 50 members of a network of Songkhla-Pattani residents march against a proposed coal-fired power plant project on Friday.

They walk along the Pattani-Hat Yai road (Highway A43) as part of their first lap in a 75km-long march from Songkhla’s Thepa district to Muang district where Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will preside over a mobile Cabinet meeting on November 28.

PRESS RELEASE 23 November 2017 | Arnika and EARTH

Investigations proved toxic contamination in pollution hotspots in Thailand. It is caused, in particular, by dioxins and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs). High concentrations of POPs were measured in soil samples, but most frequent by far they were found in free range chicken eggs.

The recently released studies 'POPs at four Thai pollutions hot-spots: Map Ta Phut, Samut Sakhon, Tha Tum and Khon Kean' and 'Chicken eggs as an indicator of POPs pollution in Thailand' were conducted by two-nongovernmental organisations, EARTH and Arnika as part of the 'Increasing Transparency in..

The Nation 20 November 2017

Anti-gold-mining activists on Monday submitted a petition to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), urging the agency to accelerate the investigation and prosecution of Akara Resources in regard to the case of allegedly unlawful use of public land and a public road for its mining operations.

The activists, along with locals affected by the company’s gold mine in Phetchabun and Phichit provinces, visited DSI headquarters to monitor the progress of the DSI investigation into the Chatree gold mine and urged the agency to hasten its operations in the case, as well as to accept an alleged change to Akara’s gold-mining project plan as a new special case.

The Nation 19 November 2017 | Pratch Rujivanarom

TEST RESULTS AWAITED AFTER BLACK WATER FOUND IN CANAL

PEOPLE living near Akara’s gold mine in Phichit have reported water pollution in local canals and paddy fields, and are awaiting results of tests by the authorities, the mining company and academics.

SWITCH-Asia Magazine, Winter 2017 | Dr. Sara Brosché, Valerie Denney and Manny Calonzo

In its four years of implementation, a regional SWITCH-Asia project paved the way for the progressive reduction of hazardous paint through some of the strictest regulations in the world, including the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia.