Granting of ECC to coal power plant gets mixed reactions
As expected, the granting of an environmental certificate of compliance (ECC) to a coal plant project drew mixed reactions from supporters and opponents of the project.
The Panay Power Corp. (PPC), one of the project's proponents, welcomed the granting of the ECC.
"Despite the delay of its issuance, we will ensure that our target date of completion of 2010 will be met," said PPC Public Relations Consultant Lemuel Fernandez in a telephone interview.
He said PPC and GBPC will abide by the conditions of the ECC including the construction of a P10-million emission monitoring system.
Businessmen also welcomed the DENR approval of the project.
Rex Drilon II, chairperson of the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation (ILEDF) and chief operating officer of Ortigas & Company, said the completion of the plant will provide "good, reliable and less costly power supply" to Iloilo.
He pointed out that together with the ongoing coal plant project in Concepcion town, the power supply will increase by 250 percent.
"This is good for business because investors look for stable power supply in the long term," said Drilon in a separate phone interview.
The stable power supply and the availability of basic infrastructures in Iloilo will help boost investments and employment, he said.
Drilon said he will leave it to the project's proponents to make good on their assurance that the project will be environmentally safe. But the business community will also conduct its own monitoring on the safety of the plant.
The project is being opposed over environmental and health risks by environmental groups, doctors and other professionals and Church groups led by Jaro Archbishop and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines President Angel Lagdameo.
Bishops in Western Visayas had issued a pastoral letter in 2005 opposing the construction of coal plants anywhere in the region.
Oppositors to the coal-fired power plants said the power supply needs should be addressed by tapping and investing on renewable sources of energy and by enhancing the transmission lines in the Visayas grid which, they say, limit the transfer of power from the Leyte plants to the whole grid.
The Madia-as Ecological Movement and the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) decried the granting of the ECC.
"Amid popular opposition, concerned entities and agencies remain deaf and blind to the legitimate concerns raised against negative environmental and health impacts of the coal plant," said Edgar Pelayo, Bayan-Panay spokesperson in a statement.
Madia-as coordinator Ma. Geobelyn Lopez said the DENR ignored studies that show the long-term harmful effects of coal plants on communities where the plants are situated.
"As we have said again and again, there is no such thing as clean coal. No amount of mitigation and technology could remove the harmful emissions of coal-fired power plants," said Lopez in a separate statement.
The international environmental group Greenpeace lashed at the DENR and Atienza for approving the project.
"By approving the ECC of the Iloilo City coal plant project, Secretary Atienza has shown his true colors--it's as black and dirty as the coal plants he promotes," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaign Manager Beau Baconguis in a statement.
"It is a fact that coal plants, aside from being a source of toxic pollution, are a major cause of climate change which is the greatest threat to life on the planet. In issuing an ECC for this coal plant, Atienza has revealed his monumental hypocrisy, pretending to talk about climate change solutions but in reality approving coal plant projects that make the problem worse," said Baconguis.