Minister relaunches pollution prevention plan as oil seeps into Rayong beach
With the oil spill having reached Rayong’s Mae Ram Phueng beach, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa has come up with plans to prevent a repeat of the disaster.
He said the National Oil Water Pollution Prevention and Elimination Plan was created in 2002 to provide the public and private sectors with guidelines and raise awareness.
The plan, which is overseen by the Transport Ministry, is implemented by the Oil Water Pollution Prevention and Elimination Committee, with the Marine Department and Industry, Energy and Transport ministries serving as coordination centres.
Meanwhile, the Royal Thai Navy and Marine Department will run an operation control centre with the provincial government and oil companies acting as operating units.
The Pollution Control Department is also involved in preventing oil spills and has been tasked with the following jobs:
• Developing and improving coastal resource databases and storing them in geographic information systems (GIS).
• Studying the composition of the oil to determine the source.
• Supervising the use of chemical dispersants to remove the spill.
• Preparing an environmental rehabilitation plan and proposing a subcommittee to work on restoring the area and assessing the damage incurred.
• Providing information and evidence to be used in claiming compensati
on and taking legal action against the polluters.
• Using the oil map as well as spatial and temporal changes in conditions in the upper Gulf of Thailand and Eastern Seaboard to prepare for future oil spills.