Last week, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade released a list of projects which could pose a threat to the environment, calling on the facilities themselves to increase monitoring of environmental best practices within their own companies.
According to VnExpress, half of these projects are coal-fired power plants run by two large, state-owned enterprises, utility firm Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and the country’s national oil and gas group, PetroVietnam.
For instance, the digital news website cites a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report which found that one of the listed plants, Binh Thuan province’s Vinh Tan 2, produces an average of 4,400 tons of waste per day. The plant, according to UNDP, has been responsible for widespread air pollution in the area since opening its first two units in January 2014.
The US$9 billion complex owned by Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical in Thanh Hoa province also made the list. Earlier this year, from June 9-11, the complex concocted a mixture of chemical substances and saltwater to clean its 35-kilometer oil pipeline, later disposing of the liquid by flushing it directly into the sea, reports VOV. This pollution only ceased after a formal request from the Thanh Hoa Department of Natural Resources and Environment was issued.
Tens of tons of farmed fish were found dead in the region in early September, when authorities began collecting samples of seawater to analyze the chemical content.
In total, the list contains almost 30 projects.
According to Tuoi Tre, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh recently issued a directive requiring enterprises to take on “special monitoring” of their own operations to avoid harming the environment. In addition, local government agencies have been called upon to step up supervision of such firms. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is also encouraging companies to avoid investment in technologies which could pose an environmental risk.
In the wake of central Vietnam’s mass fish kill earlier this year and the public outcry which followed, environmental pollution has become an especially sensitive topic among local farming and fishing communities. Several other bouts of mass fish deaths have taken place elsewhere in the country since the Formosa incident, each the result of environmental pollution, damaging local economies and drawing attention to the environmental impact of industrial firms in the country.
Earlier this month, Vung Tau fish farmers shut down Highway 1A to protest pollution of the Cha Va River which killed fish en masse, while aquatic life in Hanoi’s Ho Tay recently died following heavy rains.
On the other hand, Vietnam is in dire need of new energy sources to meet its growing power demand. Last month, EVN chairman Duong Quang Thanh announced that southern Vietnam’s electricity needs alone would outstrip national energy production by 10-15% in the coming year.
As a result, Vietnam is preparing to more than double its current number of coal-fired power plants – 19 – to as many as 51 by 2030, despite environmental and health concerns.
[Photo via NDH]
