<div> <div> <div>The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged the junta to negotiate with anti-coal protesters after seven hunger strikers were admitted to hospital.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 15 February 2018, the NHRC expressed support for the rally at the UN building, Bangkok. The rally urged the junta to withdraw its plans to build coal-fired power plants in the southern provinces of Songkhla and Krabi. </div></div></div>

<p>The authorities are still pushing an energy policy that ignores local interests and the environment, even after February protests temporarily halted a coal-fired power station in Krabi. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">The UK, once almost entirely reliant on coal-fired energy, had its<a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1236514/uk-has-first-day-without-relying-on-coal-for-power-since-1880s"> first coal-free day</a> since 1880 this month (Friday 21st April), meaning it is on schedule to be completely coal free by 2025. More coal-free days will depend on the availability of solar, especially in June and July. Approximately half the UK’s energy comes from gas, 30% from renewables and inter-country agreements, and the rest from nuclear.</p>

<p>Southern civil society groups have denounced a public forum held by the junta to gather feedback on its pro-coal policies, saying the event was merely self-promotion.</p> <p>On 27 March 2017, Lt Gen Piyawat Nakwanich, a representative of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), presided over a public forum on energy policy in southern Thailand. The forum was convened in Mueang District, Krabi Province.</p> <p>The event was organised by&nbsp;<a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/7027">a controversial committee</a>, more than half of whose members are military officers.</p>

<p>To promote its controversial pro-coal policy, the junta has set up a committee to gather public feedback and promote understanding. But military officers occupy more than half of the committee seats.</p> <p>On 22 March 2017, the Royal Gazette website published&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2560/E/047/1.PDF">the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s Order No. 5/2017</a>&nbsp;to establish a committee on energy policy in Southern Thailand.</p>

<p>Environmental activists and academics have urged the government to improve the Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) process on a controversial coal-fired power plant project in southern Thailand.</p> <p>On 2 March 2017, academics and environmentalists gathered at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, to discuss deficiencies in the government’s EHIA process as conducted on mega-projects such as its ongoing plans to build&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/6935">a coal-fired power plant</a>&nbsp;in the southern province of Krabi.</p>

<div> <div>A leader of the recent protest against a coal-fired power plant has urged a high-ranking general to stage a coup against the ruling junta if it does not keep its promise to postpone the power plant project.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 20 February 2017, ML Rungkun Kitiyakara, one of the leaders of the <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/6935">recent protest</a> at Government House, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1840318166225491&amp;set=a.1409401019317210.1073741839.100007419761220&amp;type=3&amp;theater">posted on his Facebook page</a> a message u </div></div>

<div> <div>The military has released villagers detained for protesting against the junta’s plans for a coal-fired power plant in Krabi Province. </div></div>

<p>Police on Saturday apprehended three activists who led an overnight protest in front of the Government House against the regime’s plan to build a coal power plant in the south.</p> <p>In a rare act of civil disobedience in more than two years since the ruling junta came to power, more than 100 protesters from Krabi province demanded the government scrap the project, citing fears of environmental and health damages, only to be told by junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha on Friday the construction will go ahead as planned.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand’s cabinet has halted plans to build a controversial coal-fired power plant in the southern Krabi province. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The junta has exempted the construction of coal-fired power plants in Songkhla and Krabi provinces from city planning laws in a bid to push forward controversial projects despite strong local opposition.&nbsp;</p> <p>The exemption was published in the Royal Thai Gazette on Thursday 31 March 2016. It was issued after NCPO Order No. 4/2016, signed on 20 March 2016 by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as the Chair of the National Energy Policy Committee.&nbsp;</p>

<p>An Andaman Sea conservation group in southern Thailand has accused the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) of trying to obstruct efforts to protect a delta area in the country’s famous beach resort province of Krabi. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>On Tuesday morning, 26 January 2016, at least 15 members of&nbsp;<a href="https://web.facebook.com/stopcoalkrabi">Save Andaman from Coal</a>, a conservation group opposed to coal-fired power plants based in Krabi gathered at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) in Bangkok.</p>