Thai Community Leaders Accuse ADB of Environmental Crime

At the Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today, village leaders from three communities devastated by ADB-financed coal plants presented the Bank President with a bowl of coal, in a symbolic indictment of the ADB's continued funding of climate change through dirty coal power plants. The three leaders were speaking at a civil society meeting with Bank President, Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda. Greenpeace highlighted these three leaders representing communities particularly affected by the bank's dirty energy funding.

The three community leaders, Mr. Narudon Suchartphong (55), Mr. Charoen Detkhum (63) and Mr. Sutti Atchasai (29) are representing the communities of villagers around the infamous coal plants BLCP and Mae Moh, which are directly responsible for mass respiratory illnesses, the destruction of livelihoods in the community and the displacement of countless villagers.

'The financing of the Mae Moh coal mine and the BLCP coal plant by the ADB is an environmental crime', said Mr. Charoen Detkhum of the Mae Moh villagers' community. 'The ADB should immediately withdraw finance for the BLCP coal plant project and all future construction should be halted until a full environmental audit is conducted, which will make clear the huge toll that such monster projects take on the environment and the people who live there.'

The community leaders also handed the President a letter detailing their demands from the ADB. The demands include repatriation of some of the most affected villages to locations at least five kilometers away from the mine as stated in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the provision of doctors trained in occupational health and tasked with investigating the causes of the respiratory illnesses of the villagers and the provision of treatment and compensation for villagers' ill health and medical expenses. The community representatives have also asked that the ADB withdraw funding from the proposed expansion of the lignite mine at Mae Moh and the BLCP coal plant.

The BLCP project is expected to emit 229.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 20 years, contributing significantly to global warming, while a 2002 study conducted by the Greenpeace Research Laboratories shows that the Mae Moh coal plant is producing 39 tons of the deadly neurotoxin mercury annually while generating almost 4.4 million tons of fly ash every year.

'This meeting is a step on the way to bridging the gap between those who harm and those who suffer,' said Tara Buakamsri, Greenpeace South-East Asia Climate and Energy Campaigner. 'As long as the ADB continues to invest in huge coal power plants without regard for the consequences, they will be directly responsible for funding climate change and global warming in the Asian region.'