IRPC in danger of losing renewal of existing and new operating licences?

08-Jun-07

Thai oil refiner and petrochemical manufacturer IRPC seems to be in danger of losing renewal of existing operating licences as well as refusal of permission for new licences, if it does not improve pollution controls within its industrial zone to the levels of factories located within Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong by next March. IRPC, formerly known as Thai Petrochemical Industry, is expected to spend about seven billion baht on pollution controls for its 24 subsidiaries. Factories within the estate pledged to reduce emissions after reaching an agreement with authorities to implement standard controls in exchange for permission to expand plants in the area. The agreement, however, does not cover factories located outside Map Ta Phut. The IWD and the Pollution Control Department will force factories outside the estate to meet the levels as those applied to factories inside the estate. Measures include the reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contamination by half, meeting the required emissions level of VOCs within three years, and reducing sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide by 10-20% from the maximum emission level in 2006. In addition, pollutants in water discharged from factories must be halved and trash must be reduced by half by next March. About three million tons of industrial waste was discarded from factories outside Map Ta Phut last year. Of that, 718,000 tons were toxic waste and 2.2 million tons were non-toxic