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NO TO COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT IN SUBIC!
YES TO RENEWABLE SOURCES OF ENERGY! Position paper of the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER) on the planned construction of a coal-fired power plant in Subic Zambales May 20, 2011 Click to sign petition: www.ipetitions.com/notocoal .
The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER), a non-government organization advocating labor rights, joins the mounting clamor to stop the planned construction of a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Sitio Naglatore, Barangay Cawag in Subic Zambales, as the project’s serious risks to the environment and the people’s health and livelihood far outweigh its purported benefits for the community.
The project, which is being pushed by Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (a joint venture between Aboitiz Power Corporation and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corporation), runs counter to the aspirations of the people of Zambales for alternative sources of energy that are environmentally viable. It goes against the people’s demand to keep Subic free from pollutants and other harmful substances which the coal plant will produce. Coal-fired power plants have long been identified by scientists all over the world as major contributors to the atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and climate change. Studies have shown that coal is the most carbon intensive among fossil fuels, emitting 29 percent more carbon per unit of energy than oil and 80 percent more than natural gas. In addition, toxic gases like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide are infamous byproducts of coal plants which are responsible for acid rain and a host of serious lung diseases. Dioxins, a known human carcinogen and probably the most toxic compound known to science, can also be formed when coal is burned, because most coal contains chlorine. Utility and industrial burning of coal is in fact the sixth largest source of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) list of dioxin emissions to air in 1995 according to international environmental group Greenpeace. Because of these harmful particle emissions, coal plants have also largely contributed to the occurrences of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have estimated that power plants, most of which are coal plants, are responsible for approximately 15,000 deaths per year – one-fourth of the estimated 60,000 fine particle related deaths per year. The construction of the coal plant also poses risks to farm animals which may ingest harmful particles emitted by the power plant. Vegetation in the vicinity will also be affected, and consequently, the livelihood of thousands of Zambales residents who are dependent on farming and poultry. In the long run, the local food supply can potentially be disrupted. Moreover, the country’s experience of coal plants illustrate the disastrous implications to bodies of water. In a study conducted by National Power Corporation (NPC) in 1987, just three years after the first phase of the 600-megawatt coal plant in Calaca, Batangas started operating, deadly levels of mercury, cadmium and lead were detected in the deep wells (used for drinking water) in the area chosen by NPC as the resettlement site for communities displaced by the construction of the power station. In the case of the planned coal plant in Subic Bay, such potential mercury contamination of Subic’s precious bay is a serious risk that policymakers must carefully consider. Local residents whose livelihood is dependent on the bay can potentially suffer from the pollution of nearby bodies of water. The bay’s pollution will also deal a heavy blow to tourism, one of Subic’s most prized industries today. Indeed, constructing a coal-fired power plant in Subic poses a multitude of clear threats to the environment, health, livelihood, local economy and the resident’s well-being in general. These environmetal and social costs are irreversible and will definitely plague the generations to come. It is in this light that we in EILER vehemently oppose the coal-fired plant construction in Subic. We urge the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to join the people in pushing for the cancellation of the project and in searching for renewable sources of energy instead. Issued on the 20th day of May 2011 Click to sign petition: www.ipetitions.com/notocoal |
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