Group bucks coal plant re-testing, pushes public hearing
The Ilonggo Action Network on Climate Change has opposed the scheduled re-test of the operation of the Panay Electric Development Corp. coal-fired power plant in La Paz, Iloilo City.
Instead, the group has pushed for a public hearing to determine the cause of the foul smell complained by residents during the period last month that PEDC conducted its test-firing.
“We don’t accept PEDC’s declaration that they ‘don’t know the cause’ of the disastrous test-run of its coal plant last September 10 to 17,” IANCC lead convenor Jory Porquia said. “(We also oppose) its plan to retest-run the plant on (October 11) to know what went wrong with the September test-run.”
Porquia said in a statement there is no need for a rocket scientist to determine what happened during the disastrous test-run, adding that “a careful study of the record of the test-run will reveal what chemicals, fuel and processes PEDC technical persons used , from which an average chemist, chemical engineer or/and mechanical engineer can determine the composition of the foul fumes.”
“Most probably, PEDC is withholding information because to do so may fuel further protests,” he said.
Porquia also assailed the acceptance of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Mabilog and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of PEDC’s declaration that it “does not know the cause” of the obnoxious fumes.
“This smacks of “white wash” to ease the people’s protest and go on with the operation of the coal plant notwithstanding its negative effects. They all know that the planned test-run on October can never be identical to the first test-run. The new test-run may also be rigged to avoid what happened in September,” Porquia said.
He added that the big question is why was PEDC “not transparent in its first test-run.”
“What are they hiding? If it is true that PEDC does not know what caused the obnoxious fumes, why are they claiming in public that there was sabotage? They should divulge in full what they did and the materials and processes they used, in an open public hearing with full media coverage,” Porquia said.
Earlier, Henry Alcalde, PEDC vice president for Panay operations, said
they would “do the re-test exactly at the same plant, using the same diesel fuel that we have used and using the same process.”
Lemuel Fernandez, public relations consultant of Global Business Power Corp., parent firm of PEDC, said they want to establish the integrity of the re-testing with third party experts, including those from the DENR.
But even Mabilog had also acknowledged that there was an apparent failure on the part of PEDC to advise the public and the Multipartite Monitoring Team of their plan to conduct the test-fire last month.*
