By
Jonathan L. Mayuga - February 19, 2017
ENVIRONMENTAL groups
are asking the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to shut
down a coal-fired power plant in Bataan whose operation caused ash fall that
threaten the health and well-being of communities in Limay, Bataan.
The Philippine Movement
for Climate Justice (PMCJ) earlier staged a picket in front of the DENR main
office in Quezon City last week, challenging Environment Secretary Regina Paz
L. Lopez’s stance against destructive development projects.
In particular, they
chided the DENR chief’s inaction regarding a coal-fired power plant in Barangay
Lamao in Limay, Bataan, which left the residents of the communities with
different health complications owing to bottom ash from coal-plant operation.
Lopez vowed to address
the issue but Ian Rivera, national coordinator of PMCJ, said one month after
allegedly issuing a notice of violation to its operator, no corrective action
has been undertaken.
“I don’t think this
issue is being taken seriously,” he said.
The Environmental
Management Bureau’s Central Luzon office sent a notice of violation on December
28, 2016, and the Office of the DENR secretary sent a similar notice on January
6 this year.
“It was clearly stated
in the documents issued to the operators of the power plant that they are
prohibited from continuing their test run and dumping operations while matters
are being investigated but clearly, operations are going on” Derec Cabe,
coordinator of Nuclear-Free Bataan Movement (NFBM) said for his part.
PMCJ and NFBM lamented
that no formal complaint was ever filed by the DENR against the operators of
the power plant.
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