The court verdict, WtE projects in Thailand are exempted to conduct EIA, indicating that the current measures are sufficient
The Administrative Court dismissed the case, against the Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH) together with the people's network, to withdraw the Notification of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) No. 7, B.E. 2558 (2015), prescribed Waste to Energy (WtE) Plants are exempted to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), indicating that the current Environmental Impact Assessment (CoP) measures are already in place to protect the environment and the community.
Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH) and the People's Network for Studying and Monitoring the Waste Problems in 7 Provinces (Pathum Thani, Chon Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin Buri, Samut Prakan, Chachoengsao and Saraburi) filed and submitted a lawsuit against Minister of the MONRE and the National Environment Board to the Central Administrative Court on December 3, 2015, requesting the court to revoke, unlawful Notification of MONRE No. 7, B.E. 2558 (2015), prescribed WtE Plants with all installed capacity are exempted to conduct EIA, to protect the environment and people's health as well as prevent from deprivation of the right of public participation.
On July 20, 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the case, stated that the Notification is lawful, as it stipulates that WtE plants shall follow the ERC's CoP, a mechanism to protect the environment and the rights of stakeholders and community, instead of EIA..
The plaintiff's attorney concluded that after this, the plaintiff will discuss how they would like to proceed. The verdict will be appealed to reset large size of WtE plants, through the EIA process, which is more rigorous and prudent than the CoP measures.
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