SUAL—The new coal-fired power plant proposed to be built by a Korean company in Baquioen Bay, Sual is not a welcome development for the government of adjacent Labrador town.

This was gleaned from the SB Resolution No. 015-2018 adopted during the regular session of the 9th Sangguniang Bayan of Labrador last April 23 presided over by Vice Mayor Artemio I. Arenas.

The resolution strongly opposing the establishment of the coal-fired power plant was introduced by Councilor Zoilo Rosario II and sponsored jointly by Councilors Mark Arthur S. Camacho, Simaco Sison, Angelo Mislang and Ajie Valencia.

The resolution said that even if the municipality of Labrador is not the host municipality to the proposed coal-fired power plant, its neighboring coastal barangay of Tobuan, which is only two kilometers from the site and is dependent on the fishing industry, “will be greatly affected”.

The ash flow and other metallic elements such as mercury, lead, and cadmium that will be released by the proposed plant’s water boilers and thereby “result in the depletion of marine resources,” the resolution said.

The municipal council fears that Labrador, the nearby municipality of Sual, will become the catch basin of the different environmental pollutants, whether in the form of air, terrestrial and water that the new coal-fired power plant will emit, thus affecting the tourism, fishing and agriculture industry of the municipality.

In opposing the new Sual coal-fired power plant, the town’s municipal council said the reported measures to mitigate the expected environmental effects, most especially the ill effects to the health of the people, have not been properly installed which makes the project a threat to the populace’s health.

The council cited scientific studies that showed that coal-fired power plants are responsible for the release of over 85 percent of total global carbon dioxide emission which was tagged as a prime contributor to global warming.

Emissions from the power plant are said to contain tens of dozens of toxic chemicals every day, which are a major threat to human health and the environment.

It said there are alternative ways to generate energy—such as wind, solar power, bio-energy, among others—that are more environment-friendly and which the project proponent can undertake without sacrificing the environment, the health and livelihood of the people and the business within the coastal barangays of the municipality of Labrador that rely heavily on tourism and in fishing.

The new coal-fired power plant, costing millions of dollars, could be the second coal-fired power plant in Sual.

Meanwhile, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan conducted an ocular inspection of the site of a proposed solar energy field in San Manuel to be put up by a business consortium along with foreign investors in San Manuel town.

The SP endorsed the solar energy project. (Leonardo Micua)

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