After 10 months of careful review, the Office of Environmental Policy and Planning (OEPP) had finally put a stamp of approval on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of A.T. Biopower rice husk fuelled power plant at Nakhon Pathom on 24 October 2003.

Mr. Anurak Pinrattana, ATB’s Engineering Manager, who oversees the entire process, said that in the early stage of the review, the Expert Committee requested ATB to provide additional information in some particular areas and clarify certain issues concerning environmental mitigation measures. ATB had to submit a series of additional explanatory reports to the Committees until the experts were fully satisfied with every aspect of the power plant design and operation.

“Some may think that it’s easy to obtain the EIA approval, but, as a person responsible for the entire process, I have to disagree. The Committees conducted very thorough reviews and requested very detailed information in every stage along the way. This is why it took over 10 months to go through the whole process before approval was granted. At present, ATB team is busy working on some other aspects of the project such as obtaining various permits in preparation for the construction. Barring unforeseen circumstances, construction of Nakhon Pathom plant should begin sometime around the middle of next year.” added Khun Anurak.