AROUND 200 members of an environmental group staged a cultural protest Thursday while a committee hearing on the Aboitiz-proposed coal-fired power plant was ongoing inside the City Council building in Davao City.
Dubbed "Climate Justice Fair," the protest activities held at the Centennial Park include a liturgical mass, exhibits, petition signing, t-shirt printing, and jamming sessions.
The group, "No to Coal," said it firmly opposes the construction of a coal-fired power plant in the city because it will be destructive to the environment and natural resources.
"A challenge to Aboitiz is for them to make a genuine and independent health and environmental study in the area," said Francis Morales, secretary general of Panalipdan and co-convenor of "No to Coal."
The group said a typical coal plant produces 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide -- a chemical that causes acid rain, 720 tons of carbon monoxide, 170 pounds of mercury, 225 pounds of arsenic, 114 pounds of lead, four pounds of cadmium, and other toxic heavy metals that causes pollution, diseases and deaths in affected communities.
Morales said coal power plants are not the solution to impending power crisis, as they contribute to climate change that kill people in many ways.
The group said there are alternative renewable sources of energy that can be used like air, solar, biomass and micro-hydropower.
In an interview with GMA-5 Councilor Pilar Braga, chair of the City council's committee on energy, said the City Council will listen to all stakeholders -- the Aboitiz, coal plant oppositors, and residents of Binugao, Toril.
"We might have a series of hearings regarding this matter as I know we won't be able to finish this in a day," Braga said.
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on March 25, 2011.
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