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Monday, January 03, 2005
Another coal plant eyed in Barotac Viejo
PANAY could be an island of coal-fired power plants if the two projects planned in northern Iloilo should push through.
Last December 21, Mirant sponsored a study tour of selected residents of Barotac Viejo to their Pagbilao coal plant and held barangay assemblies in Puerto Princesa, San Juan and Santiago last December 28.
Engr. Adrian Moncada of Mirant said in Barangay Santiago that Panay Island will have massive shortage of electricity in the next three years.
Barangay residents however, questioned the data presented by Mirant because it did not consider the transfer of the 110 MW Pinamucan diesel power plant to Dingle, Iloilo and the geothermal power supply from Negros Island that will be up rated from 100 MW to 200 MW by year 2006.
Jorge Abordo a farmer of Barangay Santiago and researcher of Green Forum-Western Visayas said that Mirant is misleading the people by excluding more than 300 MW of supply in their presentation of the power situation.
"Why are they manipulating the data to justify the entry of the coal power plant?" asked Abordo in the assembly.
The local officials were cautioned in hastily deciding that the coal power plant will have no harmful environmental impact.
Prof. Leoncio Deriada said the proponent is like a suitor who would be presenting only the favorable aspects of the plant. "We have to thoroughly study this proposal," said Deriada.
In the presentation, Mirant is considering San Joaquin in southern Iloilo or Ivisan in Capiz as possible alternative sites of their proposed 100 MW coal-fired power plant.
The Iloilo Provincial Board rejected last March 2, 2004 the application by Kepco for the establishment of a 100MW coal-fired power plant in Banate. The Responsible Ilonggos for Sustainable Energy (Rise) argued that coal fired power plants contribute most of the global greenhouse gas emissions. An A100 MW circulating fluidized bed power plant is estimated to release 207,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide as carbon per year.
Climate change refers to greater climate variability and changes in weather patterns, including greater frequency of heavy precipitation with heavy rainfall and a corresponding increase in floods.
Coal power plants aggravate climate change by emitting massive amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
In December 2003, Leyte, Mindanao and Bohol experienced three to four times the normal rainfall that caused landslides and killed more than 200 people.
Then Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Elisea Gozun said the disasters were manifestations of climate change.
Just a few weeks ago, hundreds of people were killed by floods and rampaging debris in southern Luzon - a phenomenon attributed by Pag-asa to the combination of deforestation and climate change.
About a year ago, the Philippine Senate ratified the Kyoto Protocol mandating the involvement of the Philippines to the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions.
Intimidation
Meanwhile, members of an environment advocacy group received threats and intimidation from the police chief of Barotac Viejo early this week.
Geobelyn Lopez of the Madiaas Ecological Movement said that this took place when her group went to Barangay Santiago, Barotac Viejo last December 28.
"A man in white shirt and camouflage pants accosted us as we got off from a vehicle, his shirt raised to reveal a pistol, asking us if we were 'pangayaw' (outsiders)," Lopez said. She later learned that the man was Barotac Viejo police chief Ferdinand Dordas.
As the group neared the basketball court where barangay residents were seated, Dordas told them that outsiders were not allowed in the meeting.
The facilitator of the meeting, however, said on a loudspeaker that seats in the middle of the court were reserved for outsiders, so Lopez and her group went on and sat there.
They were told, however, that they will not be allowed to speak in the meeting.
"We came because we heard of the plan of Mirant to put up a coal plant," Lopez said. "We want the people of Santiago to know the dangers that the plant could cause them and the environment."
In the meeting, personnel of Mirant, accompanied by Barotac Viejo Mayor Raul Tupas, gave a presentation on the coal plant to convince the Santiago residents to accept its setting up there.
"He (Dordas) threatened to line us up and kill us, and put our dead bodies on a pile when the mayor arrived," said Reylan Vergara, head of the Santiago Chapter of Madiaas.
Vergara suspected that the local government wants to stifle opposition to the coal plant and railroad the endorsement of the barangay for the project.
Samuel Torato of the human rights group Panay Alliance-Karapatan condemned the harassment.
"At the very least, the right of the people to be informed of the advantages as well as the risks of the planned coal plant must be respected" Torato said. The right of anyone to oppose any such project must not only be respected but also taken into consideration by the authorities in deciding regarding the project.
Dordas became apologetic after Vergara, speaking to the gathering, exposed the threats and intimidation their group got from Dordas.
"Why is it that the (representatives of) Mirant are allowed to speak, as they are also outsiders?" Vergara pointed out.
He said their group will conduct information dissemination activities to make the hazards of coal plant known to the people in the community.
He feared, however, that the meeting would be made as a basis by local authorities to say that the barangay has endorsed the coal plant. He said the meeting fell very much short of the requirements for a public consultation.
Santiago residents had a shining victory in the struggle against the entry of mining in their barangay a few years ago.
(January 3, 2005 issue)
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