News

The Marine Department and local authorities have successfully salvaged a medium-sized tanker that capsized off the Maha Chai coast in Samut Sakhon and spilled oil which damaged a number of seafood farms in the area.

The department cooperated with local authorities and the owner of the capsized ship to salvage the tanker after it sank three days ago.

The Nation 23 September 2013

Residents of six villages in Baan Khao Lueng of Loei's Wang Saphung district called on the government yesterday to maintain peace and order after a group of some 20 armed and camouflaged men destroyed a barrier set up to protect the communities from the

“We demand that police bring the perpetrators to justice,” the residents said in a statement.

Emergency response authorities were struggling early Sunday to contain about 50,000 litres of crude oil that spilled into the sea off the eastern province of Rayong, threatening a major tourist beach.

The oil leaked from PTT Global Chemical Plc's pipeline at 6.50am Saturday, PTTGC said. A company spokesman said it was possible some of the oil could reach Mae Ramphung Beach, a popular tourist site in Muang Rayong district.

Bangkok Post 26 December 2013 | Apinya Wipatayotin

Three industrial pollution hotspots in Chachoengsao and Prachin Buri provinces in the East, and Loei province in the Northeast are worrying the Pollution Control Department (PCD).

PCD director-general Wichien Jungrungruang said the PCD will ask for cooperation from state agencies to help deal with the problems before they get any worse.

The Nation 12 December 2013 | Janjira Pongrai

THE POLLUTION Control Department has appealed to the Supreme Court against the acquittals of former deputy interior minister Vatana Asavahame and other defendants involved in the Klong Dan wastewater treatment plant scandal.

On November 19, the Appeals Court overturned their 2009 fraud convictions. Penchom sae Tang, director of the Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand Foundation, said yesterday that the Earth Foundation supported the department’s decision to fight the ruling.

The Nation 12 February 2013

Engineers from academia, the government and business will meet tomorrow to explain why the government's Bt350-billion water-management plan could face the same fate as the doomed Hopewell elevated-transport project, the Klong Dan wastewater-treatment project.

The Nation 10 January 2013 | PONGPHON SARNSAMAK

Group to inform UN conference of contaminated fish, human hair samples

A civic group will submit to the United Nations a report showing that fish in a river in Prachin Buri, and hair samples taken from villagers living nearby, contain high levels of mercury believed to come from an industrial park in the province.

“All human-hair and fish samples collected from the site near the industrial park in Prachin Buri were tainted with mercury at a high level that exceeded safety standards,” said Penchom Sae-Tang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand

Prachatai 10 January 2013 | Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand

Citizens Demand PCD, DIW Stop Using Human Bodies as Pollution Monitoring Device

January 9, 2013 (Bangkok) – Researchers found mercury accumulation in fish and people high above safety levels in Prachinburi’s largest industrial area in eastern Thailand. More than 60 residents travelled to the capital to submit pleas for the Pollution Control Department and Department of Industrial Works to fix pollution problem before it is too late.

The Nation 07 December 2012  

Some 114 local residents in Rayong's Map Tha Phut district have decided to file a lawsuit against the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), demanding that it give them Bt160 million in compensation for environmental and health damages.

The Nation 19 September 2012 | SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE

Thailand's Map Ta Phut industrial estate cannot be considered a good model for Myanmar's Dawei project because it created a lot of industrial pollution in the area, Bangkok-based conservationists said yesterday.