Coal firm shut in Ayutthaya over dust woes

[Lite Beer]

Coal firm shut in Ayutthaya over dust woes
Samrit Jiamcharoenpornkul
The Nation

Ayutthaya: -- A coal mining and milling company in Ayutthaya province has been shut down for 90 days, pending improvements, after residents from Nakhon Luang district lodged complaints with the Interior Ministry's Damrongtham Centre a few weeks ago.

The provincial industrial office issued a notice yesterday requiring Pands Group Logistics Co to comply with the demand, after the plant discharged coal dust in nearby communities - a problem locals say has existed for several years.

The temporary closure starting this month will run until March 31.

The company's owners could be jailed for up to six months and fined up to Bt50,000 if it is caught operating during the 90-day period, the notice warned.

Junlaphop Burajanyakul, the general manager of Pands Group Logistics, said the company would do its best to solve the coal-dust problem but it might take some time.

Boonsong Kinsawaathom, the head of tambon Nakhon Luang municipality, said residents were pleased with the news, as they had campaigned about the milling company for decades. He warned that if the company's operations still caused an impact on villagers, its licence would not be renewed.

Bhubpha Cha-liengkot, 62, a local resident, said complaints to authorities over dust and discharge had fallen on deaf ears for 20 years. She said this would be her last battle to fight the company. If it failed, she would sell her home and relocate.

Another resident, Phatpitcha Poonsawat, 50, voiced doubt that the company would be sincere in tackling such a prolonged problem, saying it had installed dust-protection equipment just a few days before officials from the provincial industrial office came to examine the firm.

Many thousands of tonnes of coal have been processed and transported to factories in Ayutthaya. Black coal dust is everywhere in nearby homes. Villagers in Nakhon Luang district said they had endured coal particles for years.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Coal-firm-shut-in-Ayutthaya-over-dust-woes-30250771.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-27

[NeverSure]

I remember as recently as the 1960's that this was tolerated in America. I recall one small town that had a charcoal briquette manufacturing company. This was heavy timber country with a lot of sawmills around. The briquette company bought log ends, wane (rounded edges that were trimmed to get the log square,) and sawdust from those mills and made charcoal.

The soot from that mill was so bad that people couldn't keep anything clean. It got into homes and outside trashed the place. People accepted it because most had a friend or family member who drew their income from that company.

It required some new laws from the US Environmental Protection Agency to make that plant install filters and scrubbers to stop that completely. Their air quality was monitored regularly by the Feds. It got cleaned up. Now the plant is still running but the town and the air are clean.

I know there is technology to control that dust completely because it's done in the West. We'll see if it's enforced in Thailand, or if it's turned into brown envelopes.

[Thaiready]

I remember as recently as the 1960's that this was tolerated in America. I recall one small town that had a charcoal briquette manufacturing company. This was heavy timber country with a lot of sawmills around. The briquette company bought log ends, wane (rounded edges that were trimmed to get the log square,) and sawdust from those mills and made charcoal.

The soot from that mill was so bad that people couldn't keep anything clean. It got into homes and outside trashed the place. People accepted it because most had a friend or family member who drew their income from that company.

It required some new laws from the US Environmental Protection Agency to make that plant install filters and scrubbers to stop that completely. Their air quality was monitored regularly by the Feds. It got cleaned up. Now the plant is still running but the town and the air are clean.

I know there is technology to control that dust completely because it's done in the West. We'll see if it's enforced in Thailand, or if it's turned into brown envelopes.

my bets on the brown

[Thaiready]

Have the problem in my area of ash from the Sugar Factory (name withheld).......I even offered to pay a portion of the cost to install scrubbers....fell on deaf ears.

[rickirs]

So much for "clean coal." Doesn't exist.

Sounds like the plant doesn't have even rudimentary scrubbers to remove soot particulates from the emissions or that they've not been maintained to be rendered useless. Without an effective precipitator it is likely the plant is not recycling its flue gas into the turbine for additional power generation but venting it as well into the atmosphere - another form of environmental pollution. I hope the government authoorities take a very close inspection of this plant before allowing it back online.

[Nuddy]

I reckon that whole area is an industrial wasteland.

The road has a lot of black and white product and it is hugely dusty.

It is difficult to navigate due to the large number of large trucks parked waiting to enter industrial complexes or whizzing by.

Last time I was there huge tracts of farmland were being filled and industry were building more and more.