A GROUP of climate activists on Thursday slammed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for its supposed inaction on complaints against the coal power plant in Limay, Bataan.
The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, the largest climate justice group in the country, trooped to the DENR office in Quezon City to demand an explanation for its inaction on the complaints against the coal plant of Petron-San Miguel Consolidated Power Corp. in Barangay Lamao in Limay.
“It [has been] more than a month since they issued a notice of alleged violation to Petron and SMC but until now, no immediate action has been undertaken. I don’t think this issue is being taken seriously,” said PMCJ national coordinator Ian Rivera, reiterating the health complaints of residents.
The DENR Environmental Management Bureau in Central Luzon sent a notice of violation to San Miguel Corp. which was received by the end party last Jan. 6, 2017 while another order was issued to Petron dated Dec. 28, 2016 directly from the office of the DENR secretary.
“It was clearly stated in the documents issued to both companies that they are prohibited from continuing their test run and dumping operations while matters are being investigated but clearly, operations are business as usual,” said Derec Cabe, coordinator of Nuclear-Free Bataan Movement.
The order issued to Petron also states that the company acted beyond their Environmental Compliance Certificate and failed to install a Continuous Emission Monitoring System which disabled them to provide a regular monitoring report.
In addition, it was stated that the bodies of water surrounding the coal plant are contaminated by hazardous substances. Lastly, the company has failed to manage the bottom ash produced by their coal plant operations.”©
However, despite the release of the aforementioned notices, no formal complaint was ever filed.
The Pollution Adjudication Board claims that their office has not received any endorsement from the DENR Regional Office regarding Petron-SMC’s case which left them unable to investigate further on the issue.”©In his last interview, Ramon Ang of SMC was demanding that the DENR release a permit to transport the remains of bottom ash being complained by the residents. However, Ang refused to admit that the waste products caused the residents’ skin and respiratory diseases. “©
“There is enough evidence that the said coal plant has committed both health and environmental violations. Notices have already been released. This is not just an issue of where to dump the bottom ash. The entire operations which produce the said waste materials should be stopped. There is no reason that the DENR is not taking action on this,” Rivera said.
“We need an explanation from the DENR on why they did not endorse this case to PAB immediately,” Rivera said. The group also reiterated that PAB must be assertive in this issue regardless since it was stated in the order that the body can act on its own pulse.
“We demand the closure of the Petron Coal Plant and the cancellation of the ECC granted to SMC immediately. Somebody has to be accountable for this delay—justice delayed is justice denied,” Rivera added.