Pollution rule needs rework

Back in 1992, the federal government categorized 18 locations with serious contamination issues as Contamination Control Locations, in which extra ecological oversights– such as harder air and wastewater emission requirements– would be used.

Ever since, regional administrations in these locations, that include Pattaya, Phuket, Saraburi’s Na Phra Lan district, and Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong, are qualified to get additional spending plan to run wastewater treatment plants, obtain incinerators and other pollution-monitoring devices.

That stated, the most recent assessments performed by the Contamination Control Department in combination with Chulalongkorn University revealed that the locations’ altered states did little to end the ecological destruction which has actually been taking place in these locations for over 3 years.

The news was revealed by PCD director-general, Attaphol Charoenshunsa, who stated contamination levels in the 18 areas continue to surpass anticipated requirements, which implies these locations will not be gotten rid of from the list anytime quickly.

It deserves pointing out that PCD’s assessments became part of a larger effort to satisfy the ecological targets set out in the Twenty-year National Masterplan– which looked for to end the locations’ category as Contamination Control Locations by 2021. In 2015, that due date was pressed to the end of this year.

While it stays uncertain why the federal government picked to ditch the target which it had actually set itself a couple of years back, ecological activists and regional villagers declare the choice was made to accommodate financiers in the Eastern Economic Passage (EEC), as it will eventually consist of the enterprise zones in Rayong– consisting of Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, which is noted as a contamination control location.

The contamination assessments are not a surprise, as if anything, they come way far too late.

Over the previous 3 years, an increasing variety of ecological issues and ecological law offenses have actually been reported in these designated locations. These cases consist of significant oil leakages and harmful air emissions from refineries in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate. In Saraburi– a significant center for plaster producers– air contamination from rock-blasting activities has actually hardly reduced considering that the location was designated a contamination control zone over 3 years back.

These failures go far beyond simply ecological destruction. More than simply a couple of significant waste-related tasks, consisting of rubbish and wastewater treatment plants, have actually been discovered to be filled with corruption– the most prominent of which is the 24-billion-baht Klong Dan Wastewater Treatment plant in Samut Prakan.

The result of the assessments reveal that federal government requires to examine the law on contamination control locations and its enforcement on the ground.

One option is changing the 1992 Environmental Protect Act to offer the PCD more authority to penalize polluters and engage with regional administration to perform ecological tasks. At present, the PCD works just as a display and regulator, without any authority to enforce charges on polluters.

Nevertheless, the problem that requires to be urgently resolved is the method environmental management objectives are set out in the 20-year National Masterplan. Rather of setting nontransparent and self-defeating objectives, policy makers need to do the opposite and tighten up contamination requirements in control locations to make them more appreciated.