Environment group detects signs of ‘dangerous pollution’ near Batangas coal-fired power plant

by Jonathan L. Mayuga - September 12, 2016

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/environment-group-detects-signs-of-dangerous-pollution-near-batangas-coal-fired-power-plant/

AN environmental investigative mission (EIM), conducted recently by environmental, scientific, church, health and people’s organization on the coal-fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas, is pointing to signs of “dangerous pollution” level, the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) said.

The group has been calling for a moratorium on the construction of coal-fired power plants and has been in talks with Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) chief has expressed alarm over the pollution caused by coal-fired power plants.  Last month the DENR issued a show-cause order to operators of the Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which operates at the Semirara Island in Antique, for alleged violations of the terms and conditions of its environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and threatening to cause irreversible damage to the island’s ecosystems.

“Despite the seemingly deliberate scaling down of operations by the Calaca coal-fired power plant days before the planned investigation, the EIM observed various plants smothered in black soot in the communities surrounding the power plant,” Karl Begnotea, field biologist of Kalikasan-PNE and part of the technical research team of the EIM, said in a news statement released on Monday.

The Calaca coal-fired power plant, like the Semirara mine, is owned and operated by D.M. Consunji Inc.

Coal ash “can contain potentially hazardous substances, such as heavy metals, and the people in the area are bombarded daily with this pollution,” he said.

According to Begnotea, the facility was reportedly operating at half of its capacity since August 28. The EIM was conducted from September 1 to 4, which included environmental technical, health  and socioeconomic assessments. The technical-assessment team gathered samples of sediments, fish and marine invertebrates for laboratory analysis.

“Another glaring hazard posed by the Calaca coal-power plant was a massive coal stockpile roughly 5 meters high, exposed to strong winds from the sea. It could likely be one of the main sources of the pollution affecting the surrounding ecosystems and communities, including adjacent coastal and marine areas,” Begnotea noted.

“An overwhelming consensus among the focus-group discussions conducted during the socioeconomic assessment was the massive depletion of fisheries experienced by local fishermen that they associate with the coal plant’s impacts, among others,” he added. “The fishermen related to us that there are some fish species that they no longer see in their dwindling catches, after decades of the plant’s operations.”

Begnotea said another significant finding was the pattern of exploitation experienced by the power plant’s workers. “All of them are contractual and have no social-security and health benefits, despite having hazardous jobs,” he reported.

The EIM team expects to finish laboratory testing and analysis in the next few months. Meanwhile, the people’s organization from Calaca and other parts of Batangas who coorganized the mission said their demands against the power-plant operators were galvanized by the initial EIM results.

“Our fellow Batangueños in Calaca have suffered long enough from the unabated pollution caused by the DMCI coal-power plant. It should be denied its proposed 1,200-megawatt expansion if it has operated unsafely and has not indemnified the communities it has affected by its pollution,” said  Peti Enriquez, secretary-general of the Bukluran para sa Inang Kalikasan-Batangas.

Enriquez sought a moratorium on the construction or expansion of coal-power plants, “such as those of DMCI,” adding that steps whould be undertaken to convert the Calaca power plant into cleaner and safer energy fuel, such as natural gas or solar.