Solon stresses danger of coal power plants

The assurance by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) that it is now using local coal to power its 600-megawatt power plants in Calaca, Batangas to save billions of pesos on imported coal skirts the more pressing issue, a senator said yesterday.

Opposition Sen. Teresa Aquino-Oreta said the issue was the environmental and health risks posed by the continued use by our country of this toxic source of energy.

Oreta, a co-author of the Clean Air Act, noted that the serious health hazards posed by coal-fired power plants like Calaca I and II far outweigh the economic aspects raised by Napocor officials in insisting on using this energy source to help meet the country’s electricity needs.

"Napocor officials are missing the point when they claim that the government would now be able to save at least P10 billion from coal imports with the use of 100 percent domestic coal in Calaca," Oreta said. "The issue is not whether we should use local or imported coal, but whether the country should continue relying on coal-fired plants to meet our country’s energy needs."

She said that using domestic coal in lieu of imported sources does not have much impact insofar as generating savings for the national coffers, because in the Philippines, the government practically discourages the development of clean energy technologies by slapping high taxes on indigenous sources of energy like geothermal and natural gas sources, while imposing only a small levy or negligible import tax on coal.

Oreta said it is highly ironic that while the Philippines recently received the "World Business Summit Award for Sustainable Development Partnerships" for developing the environment-friendly Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power Project in Palawan, the coal-fired power plants of the Napocor continue to operate despite serious threat to public health and the environment.

Citing independent studies, Oreta noted that coal-fired power plants, even those operated in the United States, account for increased incidences of asthma, cardiac problems and upper and lower respiratory ailments, skin rashes, sore eyes and shorter life spans.

These power plants, whether they use local or imported coal, emit toxic substances like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and mercury, Oreta said.

She noted that in the US, coal-fired power plants remain the single largest source of mercury pollution despite stringent environment standards imposed in that country.