Random News Generator- Thailand

Thailand, in between bouts of political upheaval, has been looking at the Map Ta Phut case. In this case, 76 projects in Map Ta Phut, an industrial park- think petrochemical and steel- were sued by locals and an environmental NGO last September, on the grounds that they hadn't gotten licenses approved by a new vetting process, the National Environmental Board, that had just been placed into the constitution. This would have been slightly difficult, as the board didn't exist when the licenses were acquired, but in any case, the projects were making the locals sick.

Some of the companies were grandfathered in and waved through in January; yesterday, just about all the rest were. Two did not; these were the two not free of a list of 11 "harmful activities" laid down by the Board. The others are expected to be back online within two weeks.

Thai stocks have, as a result, hit a 14-year high. The locals are not happy; partially because of the restarted projects, partially because there are only 11 things deemed 'harmful activities', as opposed to a proposed 18.

What was cut from the list? Your guess is as good as the average Thai's; either the local news dropped the ball or the proposed list of 18 was never released in the first place.