Chevron is the largest foreign operator of oil and natural gas production in Thailand. In the Gulf of Thailand, Tha Sala district, Chevron has been planning a port and chemical storage site which would handle oil from the company's oil drilling and exploration work in the Gulf. Under Article 67 (2) of the Thailand Constitution, Chevron has to conduct an Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) because such a project is judged to potentially be harmful to the environment. When they submitted the final EHIA, a panel of experts of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) approved the report on 11 September 2012. Before that, the panel had rejected Chevron's report seven times and now backed it saying that the company had taken additional measures to mitigate impacts. When the report passed the panel, a complaint was filed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), claiming the report had distorted facts and used outdated information. The NHRC commissioner also stated that the report did not adhere to academic standards and that it could therefore be opposed. In addiction Somporn Pengkham, director for health impact assessment coordinating unit of the National Health Commission Office (NHCO), demanded the ONEP reveal the final EHIA report that the scrutiny committee approved on Sept 11. She doubts the completion of criteria by the scrutiny committee and she said she had followed up the making of the EHIA report and surveyed the ecosystem of Tha Sala Bay with community dwellers since 2008 and found that the ecosystem was unique. There are over 200 kinds of fishing resources, the sandbanks that are the breeding grounds of aquatic animals and the sources of fishermen’s living, and the coral reefs where fishermen make their livings in a 20-kilometer radius. However, the company studied impacts in a radius of only five kilometers from Tambon Klai and this does not cover outer fishermen. Meanwhile local residents, including fishermen, had continued to oppose the planned construction of the port, saying that it would damage their livelihoods. They said that thousands of families working in the seafood business would be affected. Residents also feared that the deep-sea port could change water currents and lead to coastal erosion. |