HOW SAFE ARE THE OZAMIZNONS FROM THE OZAMIZ CITY COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT PROJECT IN BARANGAY PULOT?
We, the climate justice, environment and civil society groups of Ozamiz City and Misamis Occidental and concerned Ozamiznons have realized that the City Government of Ozamiz is still contemplating to pursue the agreement for the construction of the Ozamiz City Coal-Fired Power Plant. We are disappointed and horrified that despite the already established and scientifically researched irreparable impacts and destruction caused by coal fired power plants, the City Government still turns a blind eye from its constituents to pursue the project.
We are also Ozamiznons. And we fear of our future and our children’s future if this sinister plan will continue. But we will not stop from saying our piece and inform our fellow ozamiznons of the dangers of coal fired power plant. We believe that it is our right and obligation as citizens and Ozamiznons who will be later become victims of this tragedy. We are here today in this press conference to say again and again that our beloved City of Ozamiz is not safe from this coal-fired power plant.
And these are the reasons:
First, there is no way that this coal power plant will be clean and can be cleaned. Even the best technology available today cannot disprove this point. The simple reason is because coal, when deposited million years ago, carried with it lots of inorganic materials like mercury, sulfur, arsenic, etc. Cleaning or washing coal only transfers the deadly particles to other areas. There is no such thing as Clean Coal – Clean coal technology emits 4 times more coal ash compared to an ordinary coal plant. According to United States Energy Information Agency (US EIA), the risk of getting cancer is 900 times higher from coal ash exposure compared to cigarette smoking. Also, according to Yale Environment[1] and to the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council)[2] clean coal is just a myth and a promotional gimmick.
Second, the negative impacts of coal-fired power plant have been widely researched and documented globally and here in the Philippines. These have gripped the lives of concerned Ozamiznons. In a study commissioned by Greenpeace “Burning Our Future”,[3] the scientific research quoted” Greenpeace issued a report in August 2001, detailing the mercury emissions of coal plants. Evidence was provided by fly ash samples taken from the 600-MW coal-fired power plant of Calaca, for testing to a commercial laboratory. Mercury was detected in at least four fly ash samples that Greenpeace sent. Mercury is a neurotoxin so deadly that it only takes 1/70th of a teaspoon to contaminate a 10.11-hectare lake to the point that fish caught in the lake area contaminated with mercury are considered unfit for human consumption. Greenpeace challenged the Philippine government to conduct its own testing after it had denied, together with the company operating the coal plant. The Philippine government took up the Greenpeace challenge and conducted even more extensive tests. The test results of the government were unequivocal: mercury was detected in all of the government sampling stations in amounts way higher than those detected by Greenpeace. The Calaca plant was described by Philippine Senator Sergio Osmeña III as “an environmental disaster I wouldn’t wish on anyone” quoted the Greenpeace report.
Third, the 35-kilometer death zone from where the coal-fired power plant is located is scientifically proven and this will have consequences to small city like Ozamiz. In a May 2005 study made by W.F.Donahue, E.W. Allen, and D.W. Schindler of the Department of Biological Research of the University of Alberta, documents metallic concentrations of mercury, copper, lead, arsenic and selenium have increased 1.2 to 4 fold in three (3) lakes where coal fired power plant are located within the 35 km radius.[4] Ozamiz City is composed of 51 barangays whose distance from Barangay Pulot, the host of the coal-fired power plant will not exceed 35 kilometers. The farthest of the barangay from Barangay Pulot is Barangay Sangay Diot which is 19.4 km from Pulot. This means to say that the whole Ozamiz City will be within the 35 kilometer radius and therefore a ground zero in terms of environmental impacts threatening the lives of all 133,000 inhabitants.
Fourth, the coal-fired power plant in Barangay Pulot will also be fatal to the whole Panguil Bay. Panguil Bay is a small, but rich fishing ground that supports the livelihood of thousands of small-scale fishers in northwestern Mindanao. Flanked by 10 municipalities and two cities belonging to three provinces (Lanao Del Norte, Zamboanga Del Sur, and Misamis Occidental) and three administrative regions (Regions 9, 10 and 12), such complex jurisdictional structure calls for an integrated management framework for the sustainable development of the bay’s fishery resources. The bay has an area of 18,000 hectares of water area and has a total coastline measuring 116 km from Clarin, Misamis Occidental to Barangay Liangan, Maigo, Lanao del Norte (FAO 133). As many as 9,323 fishers owning more than 5,000 boats depend on the municipal fisheries of Panguil Bay for their livelihood in 2005. But however, if the coal fired power plant will be constructed, study shows that for every 100 megawatts (MW) that a coal-fired power plant will generate, it will emit 25 pounds of mercury a year. The proposed 300 MW OPGI coal plant will emit 75 pounds of mercury in a year. It only takes 0.002 pounds of accumulated mercury to contaminate a 10 hectare lake rendering marine life forms will unsuitable for human consumption. Meaning to say that the coal ash from the Ozamiz Power Generation Incorporated (OPGI), when it will start operation will emit 37,500x poisons enough to destroy 375,000 hectares of body of water which is bigger than the Panguil Bay Area. So devastating is the impact will even reach neighboring provinces of Misamis Occidental.
Fifth, and this has some bearing with the aforementioned, is the fact that Ozamiznons are not democratically and substantially consulted about this dirty coal-fired power plant. This reinforces our belief that since coal-fired power plants around the world carry track records of destruction and death of communities and people, then it is politically expedient for Ozamiz City Government to get rid of genuine consultation process. They even ignored the Misamis Occidental Provincial Government opinion of the project, a requirement of the law since Ozamiz is a component city. With lots of transparency issues hounding this coal fired project there must be something fishy that they have to hide this from the public.
With these abominable impact already established, all the City Government of Ozamiz will have to do is to stop the endorsement and reject the project. We, climate justice, environment groups and concerned Ozamiznons call on the City Government “NOT TO ROB US AND OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN OF OUR FUTURE.”
DO NOT TO ROB US AND OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN OF OUR FUTURE! NO TO OZAMIZ COAL- FIRED POWER PLANT!
PHILIPPINE MOVEMENT FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE – OZAMIS CITY CHAPTER
PHILIPPINE MOVEMENT FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE – WESTERN MINDANAO
Gitib, Inc.
Freedom from Debt Coalition-Western Mindanao
Power Alternative Agenda in Mindanao (PALAG-Mindanao)
Kampanya ng mga Kabataan para sa Kinabukasan (KKK)
Our Rivers Our Life (OROL) –Philippines
Science Club Advisers Association of the Philippines
Youth for Climate Justice (Y4CJ)
CAMPSIC
Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
[1] http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_myth_of_clean_coal/2014/
[3] http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/th/Global/seasia/report/2009/6/burning-our-future.pdf
[4] W.F.Donahue, E.W. Allen, and D.W. Schindler of the Department of Biological Research of the University of Alberta. “Impacts of Coal Fired Power Plants on Trace Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in lake sediments in Central Alberta, Canada.” 15 May 2005.
20
