posted July 22, 2016 at
11:45 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores
Power companies have
expressed concern over the recent directive of the Environment Department
requiring clearance from the Climate Change Commission and the office of
Senator Loren Legarda when coal plants apply for an environmental compliance
certificate.
The order dated June 22
required ECC applicants to secure a clearance from the CCC and Legarda’s office
prior to the processing and approval of ECCs for coal-fired power plants.
Quezon Power
Philippines, Aboitiz Power Corp., Meralco PowerGen Corp., Trans-Asia Oil and
Energy Development Corp. confirmed the existence of the memorandum, which adds
another layer to the more than 100 permits needed to build coal-fired power
plants.
The directive came from
the office of the undersecretary for legal services and attached agencies
signed by Analiza Rebuelta-Teh and submitted to the office of the assistant
secretary for environment.
The memorandum pertains
to the letter dated May 2 of Legarda “requesting to be informed of the reason
for the continued issuance of ECCs to coal-fired power plants despite the
department’s request to the President to defer the endorsement of coal-fired
power plants in view of the global direction on climate change mitigation
efforts.”
The order directed the
Environmental Management Bureau to require the application for ECC for
operations of coal-fired power plants to get a clearance from the CCC and
Legarda’s office prior to processing and approval of their application.
The memorandum was
issued prior to the appointment of Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, a known
anti-mining and anti-coal advocate.
“We wonder if the
current administration will not change this... Seems a little off that certain
technologies are being singled out,” Aboitiz Power president Antonio Moraza
said.
Quezon Power managing
director Frank Thiel said coal plants were required to obtain as many as 165
permits from pre-development to construction stage, which posed delay in
construction.
“On average, take four
to seven years from the time you come up with a concept to the time you build,”
Thiel said.
GNPower chief operating
officer Ariel Punzalan said the permitting process had already been streamlined
through the years but the new requirement would add another layer.
Power generators are
building thousands of megawatts of new coal-fired power plants across the
country’s three power grids because they are cheaper to construct and offer
lower cost of power to consumers.
No comments:
Post a Comment