Other communities that are going through the same situation can look back at these two cases and learn a lot from each case. Although the Pak Mun Dam is still operating, it was the last dam to be built in Thailand and that was because of the citizens’ active resistance and opposition against it. With the lawsuits from the Mae Moh Power Plant, the citizens were lucky enough to get compensation because they were able to develop an international narrative that caught the attention from other people worldwide. With the pressure from their own citizens and outside countries, the government was forced to make a change. People may think that their actions/thoughts alone will not create change, and with that mentality it will not, but these cases prove that the unification of people is unbreakable and can achieve any goal, no matter how big or small. It is going to be a long and hard battle against these types of companies, energy companies that only care about the money, but the actions of the citizens in Thailand should inspire each person going through a similar situation to take the matters into their own hands and be the change that is needed for the rest of the community.
The Pak Mun Dam and the Mae Moh Power Plant are located in Thailand and have been sources of energy for the country for quite some time. Although the dam and the power plant have helped in supplying energy for the growing country, there has been negative consequences for the environment as well as the citizens in the surrounding neighborhoods. Instead of relying on the government to get involved, the citizens were able to take the situation into their own hands by protesting and making sure that their voices were heard by their government.
The Pak Mun Dam is a long-contested dam project between Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the Thai state, the World Bank, and locally affected communities and supportive civil society groups. The dam generates 136 megawatts and was completed in 1994. After the dam closed its gates to begin its operations, local villagers began to notice their income and food from the river had decreased greatly. This resulted in villagers being forced to find new ways to survive. Some consequences of this dam included 1,700 households being relocated, 6,200 households suffering a loss of livelihood, 116 fish species in the river becoming extinct, and fishery yields upstream of the dam project dropping up to 80%.
The Mae Moh Power Plant is a 2,525 megawatts lignite-fired power plant that is operate by EGAT. The plant is fueled by the Mae Moh coal mine, which is an open pit lignite mine which produces 40,000 tons per day. Annually, it approximately contributes more than four million tons of carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere. Emissions of sulfur dioxide and toxic chemicals, like mercury and arsenic, were a few consequences from burning the lignite, which then polluted local water sources, contaminated rice fields, and resulted in serious health problems for the local communities. About 30,000 people have been displaced from their homes, more than 200 people have died due to exposure to the pollutants, and over 600 villagers suffer acute respiratory problems.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Environmental inequality occurs when any marginal population suffers a disproportionately high burden of environmental harm and is excluded from environmental decisions affecting their communities.
The Pak Mun Dam and the Mae Moh Power Plant are two examples of environmental injustices that have been implemented by the Thailand government in return for compensation from the companies and promises of jobs for the citizens. Although it may have seemed promising at first, the consequences outweighed the benefits of each power source. The citizens eventually got fed up and started protesting and demanding compensation for their burdens.
At the beginning, protestors against the Pak Mun Dam sought for compensation and demanded for the dam to be decommissioned. Villagers also held a protest camp from 1999 to 2002 next to the dam site, held prolonged rallies in Bangkok, and stayed outside government houses. Around 25,000 villagers claim to have been affected by the dam. The actions that the citizens have taken against the dam have made a difference because the Pak Mun Dam was the last major hydropower dam built in Thailand. Although this is good for Thailand, it has forced the dam building industry to look towards neighboring countries. EGAT has also compensated $44.24 million in U.S. dollars for relocation along with $15.8 for loss of fisheries.
The Thai citizens that lived near the Mae Moh Power Plant filed four lawsuits claiming damage for health deterioration, physical and mental grievances, compensation for medical expenses, and for damage to crops and land. As a result of the lawsuits, 5.7 million was rewarded to villagers for crop damage that was caused by the power plant and 130 villagers who had suffered severe health problems received compensation from EGAT. Communities within Mae Moh look back to this case to ensure the procedural accountability of power plant planning and operation.
So you might be wondering, why should I care? I don’t live in Thailand. If things were so bad where these people lived, why don’t they just move?
That is an excellent point! But referring back to the definition of environmental justice, it means that everyone has the right to live in a safe environment and away from any harm in their community. It would be foolish for one to think that what happened in Thailand is a sole occurance that would not happen to anyone else. Environmental injustices can happen to anyone, specifically those in low-income communities that often lack the ability to be involved in the decision-making process and cannot afford to fight back against the companies that try to exploit them. It would also be ignorant to assume that the people living in these communities could just move into a different community so that they would not be exposed to such risks. A majority of these people have lived in this community for generations and their jobs are based on these communities. Even if they could move to a different area, other people would probably move in and they would also suffer from environmental injustice. There is no other solution that to stand up against these companies and take a stand for what we believe in.
Other communities that are going through the same situation can look back at these two cases and learn a lot from each case. Although the Pak Mun Dam is still operating, it was the last dam to be built in Thailand and that was because of the citizens’ active resistance and opposition against it. With the lawsuits from the Mae Moh Power Plant, the citizens were lucky enough to get compensation because they were able to develop an international narrative that caught the attention from other people worldwide. With the pressure from their own citizens and outside countries, the government was forced to make a change. People may think that their actions/thoughts alone will not create change, and with that mentality it will not, but these cases prove that the unification of people is unbreakable and can achieve any goal, no matter how big or small. It is going to be a long and hard battle against these types of companies, energy companies that only care about the money, but the actions of the citizens in Thailand should inspire each person going through a similar situation to take the matters into their own hands and be the change that is needed for the rest of the community.