Thai pollution dispute targets Australian giant

Ben Doherty, The Age 4 Jan 10;

AUSTRALIAN steel giant BlueScope is caught in a court dispute in Thailand that has stalled billions of dollars in projects, after allegations that unchecked industrial pollution in the Thai port town of Map Ta Phut is killing residents and poisoning the environment.

Critics have said the Supreme Court decision to forbid 65 industrial developments, worth nearly $A9 billion, in Map Ta Phut will threaten the precarious recovery of the Thai economy. The central bank says the delays will cost 0.5 per cent of GDP growth. But local campaigners claim people's health, and the environment, have for years been ignored in favour of profits.

Map Ta Phut is a sprawling petrochemicals hub, the eighth-largest in the world. More than 100 factories, spread over 16 square kilometres, employ more than 30,000 people.

Thailand's Public Health Ministry found the incidence of cancer and leukaemia in Map Ta Phut were five times the national average.

Greenpeace air testing found the level of airborne toxic chemicals - including carcinogens benzene and vinyl chloride - were between 60 and 3000 times the accepted Western levels.

Villagers in the area do not walk in the rain because they say it burns their skin and causes their hair to fall out.

The lobby group that brought the court challenge, the East People's Network, says the air and water pollutants are causing birth defects and more than 2000 people have died from cancer in the past decade. However, doctors have been unable to conclusively link the deaths to hazardous chemicals used in the area.

Thailand's largest publicly listed company, the gas giant PTT, and Siam Cement, another big Thai company, have had 18 projects stalled by the court decision.

But also caught up are international companies: Germany's Bayer, Indian chemical maker Aditya Birla, and Australia's largest steel producer, BlueScope Steel. The suspension of the projects could cost operators $A8.7 billion in lost revenue a year, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.

BlueScope's current operations are unaffected by the ruling, and the company says it has not been impacted by the court's decision because it has no immediate expansion plans for the vacant land it owns in Map Ta Phut.

But the company is named in Supreme Court documents obtained by The Age that forbid any ''enlargement of cold-rolled and galvanised steel manufacturing by BlueScope Steel''.

Local resident Noi Jaitant is not worried about money, how much is lost, or what, if anything, he might ever be compensated.

Now 70, he has spent the past decade burying relatives. Six in all: his mother, brother, mother-in-law, two sons-in-law and a niece. All from cancers: breast, lung and bone. Their portraits hang on a wall at his home.

Two months ago, his wife was diagnosed. ''I have sadness in my life, all the time. I am very sad,'' he says.

''I never think about the money, I never think about getting some money. I don't need it. I just want the companies to manage themselves properly. And I want them to give proper treatment to the people who are sick.''

Since 2007, the law has required companies to conduct health impact assessments, alongside those focused on the environment, on developments to ensure people's health is not compromised. Companies would be required to hold public hearings into the health and environmental impacts.

Businesses argue many had operations under way when the laws came into force in 2007, and say they would happily comply with the health regulations, but no clear rules have been established.

The Government has faced criticism from both sides for failing to set up the independent commission it promised to oversee the health assessments. It is likely to be February at the earliest before that commission is established and industry has clear guidelines on any development.

Individual environmental and health assessments are typically expected to take six to 12 months to complete.

A BlueScope spokesman said the company was in discussions with the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand about having BlueScope removed from the list of injuncted Map Ta Phut projects.

''BlueScope Steel Thailand purchased the land about three years ago and it is surplus land to our existing operations. At no stage have we applied for approval to undertake any development on the land and we currently have no development plans,'' he said.

''We are still on the (Supreme Court injunction) list, however are taking steps with the IEAT to have BlueScope removed as we believe our listing is erroneous.''

But spokesman for the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Payungsak Chartsutipol said the IEAT had no power to approve or disallow projects.

As the legal wrangling continues, outside the courtroom, the dispute has been far from civilised.

Spokesman for the Eastern People Network, and also on the executive committee of the ruling New Political Party (PAD), Sutti Atchasai, has had his life threatened on numerous occasions, and has been offered millions of baht in bribes to abandon the court challenge.

He said campaigners only wanted companies to follow the law, and the government to enforce it.

''There are regulations, they are supposed to be followed by all industries. And the Government must enforce the law, and must enforce it seriously,'' he said.