Proposed P2.4B coal power plant opposed

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — A multi-sectoral group has strongly opposed the proposed P2.4-billion coal-fired power plant in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.

The group, called Cadiznon Kontra Coal (CKC), is protesting the construction of the power plant in Barangay Banquerohan alleging that coal is dirty and poses a threat to the environment and the people. It also accused city officials of withholding information on the project.

“The people were not informed. The people of Cadiz are at a loss,” CKC spokesperson Dindo Ampalla said in a press conference recently held at the St. Andre Besset Mission Station in Brgy. Daga, Cadiz City.

James Molina, president of Phil-Power Exploration and Development Corporation (PPEDC), said his company wanted to construct and operate a 12-megaWatt diesel and a 50-mW thermal coal power plant complex at Banquerohan. He said they planned to start operations of the diesel plant by April 2013 and the coal-fired power plant by December 2014.

This power plant complex project will ensure stable power supply for Negros Occidental, Molina wrote to Brgy. Captain Guillermo Cabahug of Banquerohan in answer to the latter’s earlier request for a public hearing on the project.

“All updated and modern technology on air emission and water discharge pollution control and mitigating measures will be implemented and operated in accordance with the stringent standards of a power plant complex and also in compliance with the standards set forth by the DENR to protect the surrounding communities,” Molina wrote.

CKC chairperson Arnold Tapangan however said: “We strongly oppose and reject the coal-fired power plant in Cadiz City. We have a lot of questions to ask from our local officials. We are the most affected, it is our livelihood that is at risk, it is our health that is jeopardized, and this is our homeland.”

The group, in a statement, further said that a coal-fired power plant is anti-environment, anti-life, and anti-people. “Clean coal is a dirty lie. This has been rejected by Pulupandan, Bago City, San Carlos City, Bacolod City (all in Negros Occidental) and lately, Davao City. It’s time for Cadiz to reject this project,” the group added.

The Cadiz City Council has approved the application of PPEDC and endorsed it to DENR, which in turn said it will approve it after conducting the scoping and environmental impact assessment. The Council however allegedly failed to disseminate information during the public hearing last August, but still endorsed the project, in an alleged act of railroading the process, Ampalla said.

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., for his part, earlier said he supported the construction of coal-fired power plants in the province to address its looming power shortage, because it has no power source of its own yet

Marañon countered though that having no stable power source would be bad for investors. He said the province has abundant sources of renewable energy like wind, hydro and solar, but argued that a hydro-electric power plant has a limited capacity, solar energy is only good when there is sun, while the province has no vast amount of wind. Renewable energy such as hydro, wind, and solar are not enough, he said.

The governor added that the coal-fired power plant recently put up in Iloilo was originally intended for Negros Occidental, but was opposed by the so-called environmentalist groups. “Now, we get our power from Iloilo. What do we do if the submarine cable (which supplies power from Iloilo to Negros) gets broken?” Marañon asked. (FREEMAN)