Plans for new coal power plants should be ditched
There was news in recent days that Germany is now getting a third of its energy from renewable sources. Meanwhile, the figure in this country is between 7 to 10 per cent. And the Kingdom promised at the COP21 summit in Paris, on climate change, to boost t
But what troubles folk at Greenpeace – and millions of other citizens concerned about the environment in this part of the world – is that the current government and the dinosaurs at EGAT are still pushing ahead with highly controversial plans for coal-fired power plants, most notably in Krabi and Songkhla.
The reason for this, we are told, is because the country is overly dependent on gas from Myanmar.
Local people in Krabi have vowed to fight the coal power plant proposed near their city – an utterly absurd idea for a part of the world that reaps a significant proportion of its income from tourism. Equally absurd is EGAT’s persistent claim that this is “clean” coal.
We keep hearing about the need for reform in Thailand, but see little of it in the areas most needed, such as the police, and courts. But another great place to sweep a broom through would be EGAT. Surely Thailand can do better in terms of generating sources of power from renewables. The Germans have made that a priority, but why is Thailand so slow off the mark in that area?
If Thailand has an agency – or group of scientists – helping the government to counter
climate change, why do we hear so little from them? Are they afraid to cross swords with the general and EGAT over their dumb ideas?
How many more years do you want Thailand’s rivers and ricefields as dry and barren as they are now?
Unimpressed farang
