Thursday, June 21, 2018

Group backs call to shut down Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales


By Jonathan L. Mayuga - June 20, 2018

THE Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday expressed its support behind the call of fishermen in Masinloc, Zambales, to stop the operation of the 600-megawatt Masinloc Coal-Fired Power Thermal Plant (MCFTPP).
The plant has been operating in Barangay Bani, Masinloc town, since 1998. The MCFTPP is situated within a 137-hectare area within the Masinloc and Oyon Bay Marine Reserve, a locally managed conservation area.
The coal-fired power plant, Pamalakaya said, poses a serious threat to the environment and the lives and livelihood of almost 60,000 residents in the coastal town of Masinloc.
“For almost two decades of its operation, the coal-fired power plant poses environmental disaster to the municipal fishing grounds of Masinloc. Fishers in municipal waters suffer from fish-catch depletion,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairman, said in a statement.
 “The coal stockpile along the shoreline scatters throughout the marine reserve declared by the government. It results in the destruction of marine resources and massive outmigration of fish,”  Hicap said. The fisherfolk group also rejects the proposed expansion of the plant, claiming it will violate the memorandum of agreement between the National Power Corp., provincial and local government units, stating that, “The NPC shall not construct additional or future power plants in Masinloc, Zambales, aside from the proposed 2 x 300 MW Masinloc Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant in Barangay Bani without prior approval of the people”

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