‘Iba ang may pinagsamahan?’
The law bars new sources of pollutants in non-attainment areas. The Batangas project of SMC’s EERI and Linseed is considered by environment activists as an ‘additional source of pollutants.’
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Daily TribuneThe law bars new sources of pollutants in non-attainment areas. The Batangas project of SMC’s EERI and Linseed is considered by environment activists as an ‘additional source of pollutants.’
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Environment groups have cited the Philippine Clean Water Act to halt the degradation of the Verde Island Passage, a vital marine resource off Batangas, and in the process countering an integrated liquefied natural gas project of San Miguel Corp. and its partners.
San Miguel Corporation subsidiary Excellent Energy Resources Inc. and Linseed Field Corporation, a local unit of international infrastructure firm Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company, are building a combination of an LNG import terminal and a new power plant that is projected to have the biggest capacity in the Luzon grid.
Ecology advocates filed before the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the cancelation of the environmental compliance certificate awarded to the project.
The petition will further delay the project which is overdue since June. A delay in the LNG project also affects the Ilijan plant's timetable for securing a source of fuel.
Last June, the 1.2-gigawatt power plant's ownership was transferred to SMC unit South Premiere Power Corp. based on an independent power producer agreement signed in 2010.
Simultaneously, SPPC ended a supply contract with the Malampaya natural gas consortium leaving it without a reliable source of fuel.
SMC was looking at the banked gas it purchased from the government through the Philippine National Oil Co. and the LNG project to feed the requirements of Ilijan, a second phase for which that will double its capacity is under construction.
The AG&P terminal project, however, encountered delays while SMC can't draw from the banked gas it bought since the Malampaya consortium had already committed the scheduled output of banked gas for the year to First Gen power plants.
More delays will face the Batangas project after ecology groups sought DENR's action to declare the bodies around Barangays Ilijan and Dela Paz and the Verde Island Passage as non-attainment areas under the Philippine Clean Water Act.
The law bars new sources of pollutants in non-attainment areas. The Batangas project of SMC's EERI and Linseed is considered by environment activists as an "additional source of pollutants."
The DENR told the petitioners against the SMC project that it is drafting the guidelines on naming bodies of water as non-attainment areas.
"With the dangers posed by the project proponents' violations of their ECC and lack of permits from other agencies, the urgency for the issuance of a cease-and-desist order against the operations of respondent EERI's 1,750-megawatt combined-cycle power plant must be underlined," according to the petition sent to the DENR.
It added that "the complainants would like to remind (the DENR) that the same project is also due to start operating in December 2022."
The complaint also alleged the SMC unit failed "to submit proof of its compliance with obligations that tie into its social and environmental responsibility to the community" where the project is located and its "cavalier" disregard for government permitting requirements.
During the 1980s, San Miguel beer advertisements were famous for their slogan "Iba ang may pinagsamahan" which seems to have not permeated in its treatment of communities in its project site.
SMC which claims to value its relationship with Filipino consumers in its 132 years of existence must squarely address the complaints.
