Foul odor from PEDC coal-fired power plant investigated

ILOILO CITY, Philippines —The Panay Energy Development Corp. (PEDC) has started its own investigation over latest report of foul odor coming from its 164-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Brgy. Ingore, La Paz district of this city.

Lemuel Fernandez, public relations consultant of Global Business Power Corp., parent firm of PEDC, said they are monitoring the plant's activity that could be related to a possible emission of foul odor. So far, PEDC has not traced any stink that the coal plant emits, he said.

Fernandez said they would convene the multi-partrite monitoring team to discuss this latest issue hounding the plant's operation, especially on the letter complaint allegedly signed by several residents near the area complaining of foul odor allegedly from the coal-fired power plant.

The letter was sent to the Environmental Management Bureau and the office of Rep. Jerry Treñas.

Fernandez said the group of Brgy. Capt. Indo Jalandoni is now verifying the authenticity of the complaint, after getting reports that "signatures of some complaint signatories were not authentic."

With this development, Fernandez was not discounting the possibility that the new complaint could be politically-motivated, and that the person spearheading the signature campaign is related to Jalandoni's political rival.

Fernandez also admitted that PEDC earned several detractors in the areas where it is operating. "Maybe, our detractors are trying to make noise for questionable motives," he said, implying that there might be people who want to do business with the firm but were rejected.

"There might also be some disgruntled former employees who just want to muddle the plant's operation," he said.

Last November, PEDC management acknowledged that an odor report was monitored near the plant. Its statement said: "The odor reported could be attributed to the fact that the plant was still under its commissioning stage. As with any project being undertaken, inconvenience and exertions could be experienced prior to a project's completion."

It added: "In the future, occurrences such as these are not expected to happen as all testing and possible scenarios are now being checked to ensure a smooth operation and transition during the plant's full commercial operations with clean coal."

The PEDC said that around 2 p.m. on November 13, just as it was "about to bring its operations for the day to a close and conclude its routine firing exercise, some residents of Brgy. Ticud, reported the presence of odor."

Prior to that, affected residents, including schoolchildren, first complained of the foul odor in the middle of September.

However, PEDC officials did not admit the bad odor came from their plant and its management even scheduled a retesting in October witnessed by experts from Manila and by local officials. The retesting yielded no foul odor.

In the November 13 incident, "the smell was likened to that of a burning rubber or the smell of burnt electric wiring," an odor similar to what was smelled by residents last September.

The PEDC, however, said "(r)eports indicated that this time odor was milder and sporadic in nature as compared to the first experience back in September.— (FREEMAN)