Chapter 7 & 8

Platong platform: Unocal's Platong platform in the Gulf of Thailand, where the oil company has dumped mercury into the sea. ©James Fahn

Burning camp: On the Burmese border in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, refugee camps were burnt down prior to the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline. ©James Fahn

These next two chapters take another look at energy-related issues. Natural gas is generally considered an environmentally friendly fuel source, but chapter 7 focuses on the long and winding tale of the Yadana pipeline.

Part of an historic project to import natural gas from Burma into Thailand, the pipeline has instigated an international human rights campaign, a landmark US court case, corporate shareholder activism, a tense stand-off between environmentalists and contractors in the forests of western Thailand, and the jailing of Thai dissidents – all before the project was even completed. An unsavory effort by the military to secure the pipeline’s route also led a group of intrepid journalists on a long jungle trek to meet with refugees being harassed on the border. But the larger issue raised by the project is one faced in many countries: whether or not to practice “constructive engagement” with brutal regimes eager to sell their resources.

Natural gas can cause unexpected environmental problems, as well: chapter 8 is an account of how I exposed two multinational oil companies that were quietly dumping mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin, into the Gulf of Thailand. Although Southeast Asian governments are trying to keep the issue quiet, with petroleum development growing rapidly in several countries, there are signs that mercury contamination may pose problems for the entire region. And controlling toxic waste in general is a tremendous challenge for the entire developing world, where environmental groups simply lack the access to information and the scientific expertise to help monitor the situation. Ultimately, therefore, we may need to re-think the relationship between corporations, government and the civil sector.