Environmental Impact Assessment of Power Development Project: Lessons from Thailand Experiences

Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an important part of environmental and public health regulations. Increasing demand of electric consumption in Thailand is a major challenge for authorities trying to ensure satisfactory supply. However, the adverse impacts of development projects are powerful public concerns. Preparations of adequate EIA reports contribute to enhancing overall effectiveness of the EIA process. A sample of 3 EIA reports relating to power development projects was examined, to identify problems and to investigate typical strong and weak points of environmental impact statements, for effective implementation of EIA in Thailand. The competent authority has a well formulated environmental legislation and EIA guidelines and uses a listing method as a key quality control instrument for accuracy and veracity of the reports. Comprehensive descriptions of the major issues and the adverse impacts were defined based on the nature of the construction and operation phases, with adequate information to inform on existing attributes and situations appearing in all critiqued samples. The most important lessons are that there was an absence or weakness in: (i) information on baseline conditions and site-specific information (ii) public participation and (iii) communication involvement of all stakeholders. Increased enforcement could be based on strong, well-written law. The establishment of an independent review committee's regulation, widespread public participation in every step of the EIA process and formulation of a code of conduct for the consultants, are strongly recommended.

Role of Public Participaiton in Environmental Impact Assessent in Thailand

“…In particular, a previous coal-fired power plant, Mae Moa, in the North of Thailand has a bad reputation for its environmental impacts. These rules will rely upon proven and widely available emissions control technologies to level that all power plants follow the same systems (Chesoh, 2011;Chompunth & Chomphan, 2012).…”

Investigation of Aquatic Environment and Social Aspects of Thermal Power Plant Operation in Southern of Thailand

“…Water temperature strongly affects aquatic living organism, particularly dramatic effects on physiological rates (Coulter et al, 2014). Consequently, it may damage or spoil the aquatic ecosystem and fisheries resources and so directly affect the livelihoods of farmer households around the Na Thap River watershed (Chesoh, 2011). Effect of cooling water discharge from many types of industry and energy production in the natural waters is a major worldwide environmental crisis (Felson, 2013).…”

Enhancing public participation in air pollution management from coal-fired power plant projects in Thailand

“…Local expert panels and local administrative organization officers are not authorized to take part in the process. Usually after the EIA report is sent to the authority for review, the public could not get access to it [9]. Moreover, the EIA reviewers themselves are not experts in all areas, they work under pressures of time limits.…”

“…Moreover, political and financial support for EIA study is low in many developing countries, and environmental agencies are practically powerless compared with economic development agencies. Two key reasons for poor quality of EIA reports are lack of qualified environmental experts, and insufficient time and money [9], and Thailand is no exception in this regard.…”

“…Many scholars have commented on ineffective public participation process in Thailand on environmental issues and, particularly in the EIA process [4,8,9]. The draft EIA does not have to be released to the public, public comments are not asked for, and, critically, the government does not have to officially respond to public concerns.…”