Ayutthaya to fight black menace of coal dust

The mills are located along the Pa Sak River in two districts and operate day and night discharging black mist from their plants and coal dust fog during transport  an ordeal similar to that faced by Samut Sakhon residents, including Thongnark, who fought back through legal means, before being gunned down.

There are now 20 coalfired mills in Ayutthaya and a large number of piers for transporting coal from Indonesia to Bangkok, via the Chao Phraya and Pa Sak Rivers. Much of the 5.6 million tonnes of coal sent here each year is processed and transported to cementmaking factories in neighbouring Saraburi.

The first mills opened 10 years ago, and their number has increased and multiplied the discharge from their operations due to a growing demand for processed coal. Black coal dust is found everywhere in neighbourhood homes. Residents inhale it and many develop respiratory problems.

In every home under the dust and industrial smog from the mills, rainwater is too polluted for consumption, windows are kept shut and all belongings tightly packed and stored to avoid being blackened.

A resident and potential leader of a possible future protest - who asked not to be named out of concern for his life - said he feared more and worse hazards to come from planned fertiliser plants.

He showed the five projected pier sites to accommodate fertiliser plants  one of them 120 metres from a school and four others near Wat Phothong  one of two Buddhist temples affected heavily by coal mine operations.

A senior monk at Wat Lamud in Nakhon Luang district, who asked not to be named, said his complaints to authorities over dust and discharge had fallen on deaf ears for the past six years. The temple's grounds and monks' shelters are stained with black dust after only a 10minute period following the shovelling of coal from a ship on to a truck.

He said residents were now divided over planned protests against the mills as some expect to be hired by those same plants if they choose to stay put.

Provincial governor Witthaya Phewphong said he constantly received complaints from residents, but all he could do was ask the mills to set up netting to prevent flying dust, or to spray their plant floors with water to lay the dust.

"If they don't follow regulations, we order them closed, to comply with those measures," he said, without saying why many plants still operated and continued to discharge mist, and transporting of coal continues.

Villagers in Samut Sakhon have also suffered from extensive coalrelated activities, including transportation and storage which generates fine dust and causes damage to flower and fish farms.

Five coal ports and storage areas, and 130 manufacturing plants that use coal to generate power have been established since 2006 along the Ta Chin River in Samut Sakhon River.

" We need fresh air to breathe and to feed my flower farm,"said 51yearold Samut Sakhon province native, Nattakamol Piangsunthorn, one of many farmers whose business is affected by the dust from the coal loading point."

Her 20 rai orchid farm, the province's second largest, is located opposite the giant coal pier in Samut Sakhon.

" I used to make money - at least Bt 100,000 a month - from selling orchid flowers for the domestic market. But now the return for selling orchids is just enough to buy food and support for my life," she said.

To stop the shipment of coal into Samut Sakhon, people in the province's 34 tambon  petitioned and asked the Central Administrative Court to issue an injunction to ban its transportation.

Later the court imposed a total ban on the transportation of coal into Samut Sakhon and

along portions of Ta Chin River in Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom.

The ban will remain valid until tests on the quality of water in the river are completed.