“Environmental and civil society groups condemn junta’s mining bill”, 26 January 2015

…More than 20 environmental and civil society organizations…submitted a joint statement against the junta’s new mining bill…to the Law Reform Commission of Thailand (LRCT)…According to the bill…the state shall assume sole ownership of the mines. Moreover, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Environmental Health Impact Assessments (EHIA) are not compulsory in the process of granting mining concessions. The new bill will also allow mining companies into mine protected forests…