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Thailand Gives Approval For Gas P



Subject: Thailand Gives Approval For Gas   Pipeline To Burma


Dow Jones Business News -- March 25, 1997
                                       Thailand Gives Approval For Gas
                                       Pipeline To Burma

                                       AP-Dow Jones News Service

                                       BANGKOK (AP)--Thailand's National
Environment
                                       Board has given the Petroleum
Authority of
                                       Thailand approval to construct its
portion of a
                                       controversial gas pipeline from
Burma, a PTT
                                       spokesman said Tuesday.

                                       Environmental activists in Thailand
oppose the
                                       pipeline because they say it runs
through forest
                                       reserves and along a fault line. They
have
                                       accused the National Environment Board of
                                       ignoring their concerns.

                                       The Thai portion of the pipeline will
run from the
                                       Burmese border through Kanchanaburi
province to
                                       a power plant in Ratchaburi province 95
                                       kilometers west of Bangkok.

                                       Dhira Phanthumvanich, a board member,
told local
                                       papers that because the Cabinet had
already
                                       approved the power plant 'we have to
give (the
                                       pipeline) the green light.'

                                       The Burmese part of the pipeline is
owned by
                                       Total of France, Unocal Corp. of the
U.S., the
                                       Burmese government and PTT. That
portion of the
                                       project has been heavily criticized
by human
                                       rights groups and democracy activists as
                                       providing cash for Burma's military
regime.