National Health Commission Demands Final Report On Chevron Project: Thailand

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ENVIRONMENT

NHC demands final report on Chevron project

PONGPHON SARNSAMAK

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- The National Health Commission (NHC) yesterday demanded the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) disclose the final environmental and health impact assessment (EHIA) of the deep-sea port and chemical storage site to be built by Chevron.

The site will be located in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Tha Sala district. An ONEP panel of experts approved the final EHIA report on September 11, which will help the US oil giant go ahead with its drilling and exploration work in the Gulf of Thailand.

Once Chevron finalises the EHIA report and agrees to the mitigating factors, ONEP will then hand it over to the Independent Commission on Environment and Health (ICEH) for recommendation before it is forwarded to the Marine Department for final approval.

The ICEH needs to study this report because the deep-sea port and the chemical storage site are categorised as harmful to the environment under the Constitution's Article 67 (2).

Under this article, ICEH and the Marine Department need to hold a public hearing before pushing the project through.

"Information about measures to mitigate the project's impacts seemed to be unclear. We have asked ONEP several times for the final EHIA report so we can see for ourselves what measures will be taken. However, we were always refused," Somporn Pengkam, the NHC's HIA coordinating unit director, said.

Somporn was speaking at public forum hosted by the National Human Rights Commission, which was attended by 500 villagers and representatives from ONEP and local authorities.

Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production representatives said they were not ready to join the event.

Meanwhile, Somporn said the ONEP expert panel had been studying this report since 2010 before approving it in September.

"However, we want to know the exact criteria used by the panel," she said.

The NHC believes activities related to the deep-sea port and construction of the chemical storage site would affect marine life as well as the livelihoods of local fishermen.

The EHIA report is said to cover only a 5-kilometre radius of the construction site at Ban Bang Sarn in Tambon Klai, when in reality at least 10,000 fishermen living outside that area will be affected, Somporn said.

Piyanant Sophonthanaporn, director of ONEP's Environmental Impact Assessment Bureau, said the expert panel had approved this EHIA report because Chevron had taken additional measures to mitigate the impacts after the panel rejected it seven times.

-- The Nation 2012-11-07

[asiawatcher]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more? Wait until the supplies are quantified to be within a specific use by date and then do more environmental damage at the time. The US has found it has enough oil and fields far greater the UAE. Iran and Iraq put together so why would they want to run an offshore deal when home base is cheaper and more lucrative? Simple, extract everyone else's and then control the future market. And we think Thailand is corrupt!

[impulse]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more?

Why grow your own rice when Vietnam can grow plenty to feed SE Asia?

Or make your own cars when China would love to inundate the Thai market?

Or clean your own home when there's so many Burmese folks anxious to cross the border to do it.

For that matter, why make anything you could import? We'll worry about how to pay for it later since nobody will be making anything, earning money and paying taxes to pay for the finer things in life like food, shelter, clothing, roads and gasoline to create traffic jams.

Edited November 7, 2012 by impulse

[Bagwan]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more? Wait until the supplies are quantified to be within a specific use by date and then do more environmental damage at the time. The US has found it has enough oil and fields far greater the UAE. Iran and Iraq put together so why would they want to run an offshore deal when home base is cheaper and more lucrative? Simple, extract everyone else's and then control the future market. And we think Thailand is corrupt!

I do not know whether what you say is factual but you certainly have got your last sentence wrong. We KNOW that Thailand is corrupt.

What is under discussion is whether Chevron should drill for oil. Could it be that they will suspend pumping until the need arises?

Nitpicking? Probably.

[mayday49]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more? Wait until the supplies are quantified to be within a specific use by date and then do more environmental damage at the time. The US has found it has enough oil and fields far greater the UAE. Iran and Iraq put together so why would they want to run an offshore deal when home base is cheaper and more lucrative? Simple, extract everyone else's and then control the future market. And we think Thailand is corrupt!

Go Home!

[Soutpeel]

What is under discussion is whether Chevron should drill for oil.

Suppose this discussion is a bit late, they have been drilling offshore for Oil & Gas in the Gulf of Thailand for years under Chevron and previously under Unocal

[brianP]

Storage of byproducts and chemicals needed for the petroleum and more areas to ruin and pollute,more money for the politically elite and that trickle down group, and more time for big oil bitches to stall needed energy alternatives, yeah buy in on that one you minions!

[asiawatcher]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more? Wait until the supplies are quantified to be within a specific use by date and then do more environmental damage at the time. The US has found it has enough oil and fields far greater the UAE. Iran and Iraq put together so why would they want to run an offshore deal when home base is cheaper and more lucrative? Simple, extract everyone else's and then control the future market. And we think Thailand is corrupt!

I do not know whether what you say is factual but you certainly have got your last sentence wrong. We KNOW that Thailand is corrupt.

What is under discussion is whether Chevron should drill for oil. Could it be that they will suspend pumping until the need arises?

Nitpicking? Probably.

Sorry if I did not make it very clear. Let me try ... Chevron, US company, trying to exhaust the worlds supplies before then controlling the market. Corrupt - the US, the oil companies etc etc ...

Edited November 8, 2012 by asiawatcher

[asiawatcher]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more?

Why grow your own rice when Vietnam can grow plenty to feed SE Asia?

Or make your own cars when China would love to inundate the Thai market?

Or clean your own home when there's so many Burmese folks anxious to cross the border to do it.

For that matter, why make anything you could import? We'll worry about how to pay for it later since nobody will be making anything, earning money and paying taxes to pay for the finer things in life like food, shelter, clothing, roads and gasoline to create traffic jams.

Fairly obvious to most just some like you, miss the point entirely.

[delgarcon]

No, he hasn't missed the point asia watcher, you have!

[Saudi Sid]

With the amount of oil available globally, why is there any necessity to drill for more?

Because we do not have a world economy and why shouldnt Thailand profit from its natural resources too? America doesnt come in and just take Thailand's oil you know......

[Digitalbanana]

Sorry if I did not make it very clear. Let me try ... Chevron, US company, trying to exhaust the worlds supplies before then controlling the market. Corrupt - the US, the oil companies etc etc ...

I would try again!