The Environment Department deferred the implementation of new effluent standards for all industries, including upstream petroleum exploration.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said the Environment Department acted on the request of the Energy Department to hold in abeyance Department Administrative Order No. 2016-08, or the Water Guidelines and General Effluent Standards.
“The DENR under the previous administration came out with new guidelines that were more stringent than international standards. In response, the DOE wrote to the DENR requesting to hold in abeyance the implementation of the said guidelines and the DENR agreed,” Fuentebella said.
He said the department proposed a memorandum of agreement with the Environment Department and the terms of reference that would be used in the sampling of liquids/fluid/water.
“The matter is now with the DENR,” he said.
The new standards earlier raised opposition from the oil and gas industry in the absence of technology that would allow them to comply with the requirements.