Coal plants’ shutdown urged

Two House committees have endorsed a resolution urging the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to shut down its six coal-powered plants for polluting the environment.

In endorsing Resolution 700, the committee on energy and the committee on ecology gave weight to the testimonies of experts on the environment on the poisonous substances that coal plants are discharging, and of the measure’s principal author, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon).

Zubiri told his colleagues in a recent hearing that coal-fired plants "emit toxins and carcinogens that are harmful to humans and the ecosystem."

He said the use of coal is the "dirtiest technology" in power generation.

"Our country is among the most polluted in the world, with the level of pollution being five times the limit set by international standards," he stressed.

Napocor officials warned the two committees that there would be a shortage of power supply if they were to close down their six coal plants.

The two hearing panels, however, did not buy the officials’ story in the face of their own testimony in previous hearings on the controversial purchased power adjustment that supply was in excess of about 3,000 megawatts.

In fact, Zubiri recalled that these officials also testified that the public has been paying for the excess generation capacity of independent power producers (IPPs) even if they did not supply Napocor with even a kilowatt-hour of electricity because this was so dictated in their contracts with the government.