Green activists have pledged to intensify their struggle against the Burma-Thai gas pipeline project planned by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand which is threatening verdant tracts of forests in the Kanchanaburi province. Environmental groups of Burma and Thailand recently held an emergency meeting following the approval of environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the project by the National Environment Board of Burma. The pipeline will supply gas from the Yadana gas field in Burma to the planned 4,600 megawatt power plant. Expressing disappointment with the board's decision, Suraphol Duangkae of the Wildlife Fund of Thailand said that the EIA had failed to show that the project will not threaten wildlife species such as the hog-nosed bat and wild elephants and the forest itself along the pipeline route. The board has set up a sub-committee to study the seismic safety of the project as the pipeline will lie on a fault line.
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