Sunstar Bacolod
THE Provincial Board (PB) demanded Energy Development Corporation (EDC) to explain its 40-megawatt commitment to the province of Negros Occidental.
Representatives of the energy body were asked by the PB to appear before its session on Wednesday to explain why the firm shut down its operations in Bago City last November 2010.
In Wednesday's session, EDC was represented by Engr. Dwight Maxino, site vice president for Negros, who was grilled by members of the PB.
Second district Board Member Miller Serondo cited the provision in the memorandum of agreement signed between EDC and the province under the late Governor Joseph Maranon.
The provision states that EDC committed to provide 40 megawatt of electric power from its geothermal plant in Bago City to the province of Negros Occidental.
"Where is the 40 megawatts of power supply that you have committed? You were allowed to enter the forest buffer zone because of this. What will happen now? What will we say to the people?" an apparently irked Serondo demanded from Maxino.
The Provincial Government allowed the firm to utilize the 12.5 hectares for its geothermal power plant within the 169-hectare buffer zone of the Mt. Kanlaon National Park. With this concession, EDC was expected to deliver 40 megawatts of electric power for the province.
"We have been protecting you, so you should also protect us," Serondo said, citing the protesting environmentalist groups who were so vocal in their opposition to EDC's entry to the buffer zone.
He pointed out that, with EDC entry into the area, the buffer zone has been affected and its fauna allegedly destroyed due to EDC's operations.
"What will we say to the people?" Serondo repeatedly asked.
First district Board Member Nehemias de la Cruz also pointed out that EDC's drilling operations affected a substantial area in the buffer zone.
Maxino explained that the shutdown of the power plant is only temporary. He stated that EDC needs to conduct studies that were started last December and will end by October this year.
The study will determine where EDC should dig two or three more wells that can supply the 40 megawatt power it have committed to the province, he added.
The previous drilling operations generated only seven megawatts that were was sold to Ileco II in Iloilo, Maxino said.
He said they have to shut down operations for the feasibility study because there should be no man-made or natural interference while the study is being conducted.
He said the EDC has also incurred losses due to the shutdown. (Teresa Ellera-Dulla)
Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on February 17, 2011.
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