Change the pipeline
      route

      The national committee set up to
      review the Yadana gas pipeline
      project is due to make its
      recommendations next week, and it's
      clear what their conclusion should be:
      Change the project's route so that it
      does not pass through the 1A
      watershed forest in the Huay
      Khayeng reserve, home to several
      rare species of wildlife.

      The Petroleum Authority of Thailand
      (PTT) can no longer complain about
      any delay such a procedure might
      involve because Egat has already
      announced the Ratchaburi power
      plant it is building to receive the gas
      will not be finished on time, and may
      in fact be delayed by several months.

      This should give the PTT time to
      re-route the pipeline so it can run
      along the road to the border town of
      Ban I-Tong, instead of passing
      through pristine forest. That will mean
      there is only one track crossing
      through the forest instead of two,
      greatly reducing the impact on
      wildlife.

      The PTT has anyway revealed that,
      contrary to its earlier hyperbolic
      assertions, a delay won't cost it that
      much: The money it must pay to
      Burma will simply count toward future
      purchases of natural gas. In the end,
      it will only lose money it would have
      gained as interest.

      Meanwhile, the PTT must make sure
      the route it has already begun
      clearing through the Huay Khayeng
      forest is replanted and, most
      importantly, well guarded -- night and
      day -- to protect it against the
      poachers and encroachers who have
      already begun to descend on the
      area like locusts. It should set up a
      large bond to pay for any damage
      that might ensue if an accident or
      sabotage causes the pipeline to
      explode.

      A route adjustment could have been
      worked out a long time ago if the
      project approval process had been
      carried out in a proper and
      transparent manner. But the pipeline
      was approved by the earlier Chuan
      administration without any
      consideration for the environmental
      impact on Kanchanaburi's forests or
      the opinions of the province's
      residents.

      The environmental impact
      assessment (EIA) which was
      eventually carried out included a poll
      which found that only two of 136 local
      people sampled understood what the
      project is; 110 said they had no
      knowledge about it at all. The EIA
      was also poorly done -- its wildlife
      survey was thoroughly inadequate --
      but it was nevertheless hurriedly
      approved by environmental
      authorities last March due to the
      PTT's claims of facing a strict
      deadline.

      In fact, the national committee could
      do Thailand a great favor by urging a
      revamp of the whole EIA process,
      which badly needs fixing. EIA reports
      are (inadequately) funded by project
      developers themselves, who
      pressure the consultant firms they
      hire to downplay projected impacts
      and finish up their surveys as quickly
      as possible.

      A possible alternative was obliquely
      proposed by committee chairman
      Anand Panyarachun, who noted that
      in other countries EIAs are funded by
      project financiers like the World
      Bank. If the impacts prove to be too
      great, then they simply don't fund the
      project.

      There also needs to be more quality
      control of consultants' work, perhaps
      by penalising firms which produce
      shoddy reports, or taking away their
      licences altogether. Finally,
      politicians can no longer be allowed
      to get away with approving projects
      whose EIAs have yet to be
      performed.

      As for the Yadana project itself,
      opponents are no doubt hoping it will
      simply be cancelled, but realistically
      speaking, the committee is unlikely to
      choose this option. The pipeline has
      already progressed too far, and the
      critics themselves have to admit that
      their protests against the project
      came rather late in the game.

      The best reason to cancel the
      pipeline is that the hard currency sent
      by the PTT to Burma will prop up the
      brutal and corrupt military junta there
      for years to come. But even some
      pipeline opponents admit that,
      deplorable as it may be, most Thais
      simply don't care about the project's
      impact on Burma.

      Only time will tell if this indifference
      eventually comes back to haunt
      Thailand.