Enforcement and Compliance News

  • China punishes coal, steel companies for violating pollution, safety rules
    Sep 29 2016

    China's state planner has punished hundreds of coal and steel companies by forcing them to close or cut output for violating environmental and safety regulations, the latest effort to crack down on the country's heavily polluting industries.

    The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) forced two steel companies to shut completely, 29 firms to halt production and another 23 to curb output, it said in a statement on Thursday. The closures and curbs followed a nationwide inspection of more than 1,000 steel makers in the world's top producer.

    Among more than 4,600 coal mines inspected, the NDRC has revoked safety certificates for 28 coal mines and forced another 286...
  • Waste crime is 'the new narcotics', says Environment Agency chief
    Sep 22 2016

    Waste crime is the “new narcotics” according to the head of the Environment Agency (EA), offering huge profits as the authorities race to catch up with the damage caused to society.

    Illegal waste activity costs England £1bn a year and more than 1,000 illegal waste sites were discovered last year, more than in the previous two years combined, with 662 still active as of the end of March.

    The offences, sometimes involving organised crime gangs, ranged from illegal dumping of household and industrial waste to massive frauds involving recycling fees and landfill tax. However, action by the EA led to almost 1,000 illegal sites being shut down last year, with fines and...
  • Haze from Indonesian fires may have killed more than 100,000 people – study
    Sep 19 2016

    A smog outbreak in Southeast Asia last year may have caused over 100,000 premature deaths, according to a new study released Monday that triggered calls for action to tackle the “killer haze”.

    Researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities in the US estimated there were more than 90,000 early deaths in Indonesia in areas closest to haze-belching fires, and several thousand more in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

    The new estimate, reached using a complex analytical model, is far higher than the previous official death toll given by authorities of just 19 deaths in Indonesia.

    “If nothing changes, this killer haze will carry on taking a terrible toll, year...
  • Regime’s absolute power is a danger to environment: experts
    Sep 17 2016

    The Thai Environmental Journalists Society held a forum and exhibition on current environmental issues and future challenges yesterday at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. At the forum, many speakers flagged up the environmental issues the country faces.

    Surachai Throngngam, secretary-general of the EnLawThai Foundation, pointed out that many development plans still don't include proper public participation and will have severe adverse impacts on the environment and natural resources. He said this trend would continue in the future due to the military regime's use of special powers.

    "The pushing forward of development projects...
  • Lawsuit Filed to Protect Sea Life From Ocean Acidification, Climate Change
    Sep 8 2016

    SAN FRANCISCO - The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today for failing to set new water-quality standards to combat ocean acidification or respond to a three-year-old Center petition demanding the agency address this growing threat to marine life. Despite scientific consensus that federal water-quality standards are outdated and inadequate to protect marine life from the corrosive effects of ocean acidification, the EPA has ignored its legal duties to update the standards.

    “The EPA is ignoring the threat of ocean acidification, and that’s very dangerous. We need to act now to protect oysters, corals and other marine animals that are...
  • Tackling Food Waste as a Way to Save the Climate, Too
    Sep 6 2016

    At his hog farm about a dozen miles from Las Vegas' famed strip, Bob Combs became a celebrity of sorts for hauling thousands of pounds of leftovers from casinos' all-you-can-eat buffets and feeding it to his 3,000 pigs.

    Farmers used to call the practice "garbage feeding." Today, researchers see it as a tool for stemming climate change. That's because the growing amount of wasted food around the world adds methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere as it rots in landfills.

    Combs just happened to be a pioneer recycler.

    "These buffets, they generate so much waste," said Nicole Civita, director of the Food Recovery Project at the University of Arkansas School of...
  • 'Air pollution' particles linked to Alzheimer's found in human brain
    Sep 6 2016

    Tiny magnetic particles produced by car engines and brakes can travel into the human brain and may trigger Alzheimer's disease, scientists have warned.

    Researchers at Lancaster, Oxford and Manchester Universities discovered microscopic spheres of the mineral magnetite in the brains of 37 people in Manchester and Mexico who had suffered neurodegenerative disease.

    The mineral magnetite is known to be toxic and is linked to the production of free radicals which are associated with Alzheimer's Disease.

    Although magnetite has previously been found in the brains of people who had died of Alzheimer's disease, it was thought it occurred naturally. However the tiny balls...
  • Levee builders endeavour to quash deluge of complaints
    Sep 3 2016

    'We are building a dyke, not a concrete pavement," Pongsakorn Punpanich, an engineer from Macro Consultant Co, said with frustration. He was speaking to the Bangkok Post about a dyke construction project in Bang Kachao, in Samut Prakan's Phra Pradaeng district which serves as "the lung for the city".

    Mr Pongsakorn was responding to questions about the project raised by netizens and civic groups who are concerned about the adverse environmental effects the construction project might create.

    He said many activists misunderstood what the project was about and believed it would be a concrete structure along the Chao Phraya River. The project is actually a dyke to prevent water...
  • Mounting pile of garbage polluting Koh Larn
    Sep 1 2016

    CHON BURI -- Residents of Koh Larn have complained that the problem of disposing of mounting piles of garbage on the popular tourist island off Pattaya is becoming worse, with about 10,000 tonnes of accumulated waste and rubbish already disfiguring the island.

    The tiny resort island has a resident population of about 4,000, according to official domicile registration records.

    However, there are another 4,000-8,000 people from elsewhere, including migrant workers, also living on the island.

    The bigger population and a constant increase in number of hotels, resorts, homestays, restaurants and shops, as well as the large number of daily visitors, has compounded the...
  • Community opposes new PTT gas pipeline in Rayong
    Aug 30 2016

    RAYONG -- Residents of Nong Faeb in tambon Map Ta Phut have put up banners and signboards showing their opposition to PTT Plc's plan to lay a 5th natural gas pipeline through their community.

    They argue that PTT's plan routes the 5th natural gas pipeline through the heart of Nong Faeb community, near schools, a temple and along a railroad parallel with the existing 4th pipeline.

    One angry resident, who asked not to be named, said the pipeline was planned in conjunction with the construction of a sea port, gas storage facilities and factories near the community. For residents it would be like living in the middle of a cluster of live bombs, he said.

    "We are already...