Tuesday, 28 December 2010
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post
Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at unnamed environmental activists on Tuesday at the groundbreaking of a 338-megawatt hydropower dam in Koh Kong province.
Speaking at the site of the Stung Russey Chrum Krom dam, which will span the eponymous stream in Koh Kong’s Mondul Seima district, Hun Sen said environmental impacts were a natural consequence of economic progress.
“Is there any development that happens without an impact on the environment and natural resources? Please give us a proper answer,” Hun Sen said. The premier said society inevitably exacts a toll on the environment, making a bizarre allusion to proposed taxes on carbon emissions in other countries.
“Only the wind that we breathe comes without a fee, but in other countries, they have to pay,” he said. “Even with farts, there is a tax, and though they do not say the tax comes from farts, it is implied when they talk about the value of biodiversity.”
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