Group asks CA to stop Subic coal plant construction

MANILA — An anti-coal group on Tuesday filed a petition before the Court of Appeals seeking to stop the construction activities of a Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. (RPEI) coal plant which they claimed as posing danger and negative effects to the environment as it is located near the area of the airport in Subic Bay area.

In a 38-page petition for certiorari, the group Subic Bay Freeport Chamber for Health and Environment Conservation (SBFCHC) as well as the No to Coal Stakeholders Coalition of Subic Bay said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) gravely abused its discretion in granting the permit for the construction of the 144-m high Power Plant with CFB boiler with a smokestack of 150 meters above sea level.

“Aside from the threats of environmental degradation and dangers to our health, we are now also bothered with the safety issue after discovering that the smoke stack is directly along the path of the approach of planes landing to the airport strip which is less than 3 km from the coal power plant. It will be manslaughter if plane crashes given the proximity of the airport and the safety issues about the effect of the emissions generated by the coal power plant to aircraft,” said Alex Hermoso of No to Coal Stakeholders Coalition of Subic Bay.

According to the petitioners, RPEI violated their permit and CAAP unlawfully gave RPEI the permit, saying that there was also a violation on the land use and issues concerning the ancestral domain of the IPs who did not give prior consent to the project.

Petitioners said the structure was along Sitio Nalatore, Barangay Cawag, Subic, Zambaloes which falls within the approach/departure surface of Runway 07 of the Subic Bay International Airport.

They said the 150m dual Smokestack would be part and parcel of a plant which was expected to use turbines, fluidized bed technology, electrostatic precipitators, high level tension wires and other current technology only 700’ feel below final approach.

“Due to the magnetic interference it generates, the 150m dual Smokestack will impair not only the aircraft instruments but the accuracy of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) primary radar,” petitioners added.

For his part, Atty. Aaron Pedrosa, Secretary-General of Sanlakas, one of the co-petitioners said the coal plant project would hamper the grown of Subic Bay and nearby areas “as it would render the existing runway unfit for use. Residents would be robbed of their airport for a plant that would not even produce a single watt of electric power for Subic.”

“RPEI’s coal plant should not be allowed to take off. It is a deadly proposition for Subic for its impacts to health, environmental, climate and now air travel”, added Pedrosa.

Ian Rivera, National Coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) asserted that Redondo Peninsula Energy application has violated more than a thousand and one more prescribed by Philippine Laws before any coal-fired power plant be given a green signal.

“Obviously, the glaring one is this issue why CAAP has given it a permit where it will endanger all the incoming and outgoing flights in Subic. Failure of the government to enforce state regulations adds to the burden that the government is not capable of safe and independent scrutiny of this coal plants and should let go of these that spew dirty, harmful and costly energy,” Rivera concluded.