Coal power plants could endanger marine protection areas
Environmentalists have urged authorities to ‘learn lessons from the Formosa incident and reconsider proposed coal thermal power projects in Vinh Tan’. According to Nguyen Chu Hoi from the Hanoi National University, Vietnam has 16 marine protection areas, including Hon Cau, which, if well developed, will bring ‘spillover effects’, helping the biological balance in localities. Strongly opposing the idea of narrowing Hon Cau to make room for thermal power plants, Hoi cited a speech by Vietnamese Deputy Chair of National Assembly Tong Thi Phong in Washington which emphasizes that the ocean plays a critical role in human life and that Vietnam is a maritime nation. Hoi said that those who want to narrow Hon Cau must prove that waters cannot be protected, and Hon Cau is not the core position of the MPA.
