Environmental and civil society groups are criticizing the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for Myanmar’s first coal power plant. Chinese firm Wuxu Huaguang Electric Power Engineering commissioned the EIA after it took over the power plant, located in Tigyit, Shan State, in 2016. But after reviewing the assessment, a consortium of organizations claimed that the assessment was not comprehensive and does not ensure that the communities and ecosystems around the plant are being protected.

The Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) conducted the review in partnership with EarthRights International, Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, Greenpeace International and Hydrocology Consulting.

“When we, MATA, asked help from experts to read the report they found that the report deviates from international standards and our own national standards,” MATA member Ko Aung Kyaw Moe told the Myanmar Times.

MATA represents over 450 individuals and civil society groups across Myanmar, and its criticisms are not meaningless to the future of the plant and its operations. Myanmar communities have been historically suspicious of Chinese-backed power plants. One notorious example is the Myitsone Dam, a proposed 6000-megawatt hydroelectric plant that has been mired in controversy for years.