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A moratorium on coal ash dumping in Naga City, Cebu was declared last month by a regional environment official pending test findings of chemical and air pollution tests.
With this, Salcon Power Corp. and Korean Power Corp. are supposed to halt all indiscriminate disposal of coal ash waste from their power-generating plants.
The verbal order was made by Rolando Luego, acting regional technical director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources? (DENR) Environment Management Bureau (EMB) during an emergency meeting of stakeholders last Aug. 25.
The meeting of the Multi-Partite Monitoring Team for Salcon-Kepco was held at the company?s Naga office.
In recent months, trucks have been unloading black soil-like material in open spaces, including a private subdivision, of Naga. Some residents welcomed the ash as filling materials for vacant property, unaware of warnings that coal ash was a pollutant and may contain heavy metals and toxic substances that endanger health.
The DENR?s top priority is to determine whether the coal ash threatens public health,said Leonardo Sibbaluca, DENR regional executive director.
?This is the number one consideration, its effect on the health of the people. If we find out the coal ash has worsened you asthma, then we have to do something,? he said.
?There must be a facility or depositor for the coal ash.?
The moratorium on dumping was relayed through Luego?s representative William Cuñado, at the MPMT meeting.
?I asked William to convey to the parties that with the disposal of industrial waste, they should seek clearance from the EMB. There should be no dumping without an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC),? said Luego.
He ordered EMB staff to take coal ash samples the next day.
?I also asked for samples to be taken from the coal ash dumped inside the Balili property after the Ombudsman visited the place,? he said.
At least 50 families have complained that water in their artesian wells have been contaminated, said environmental advocates who filed a notice to sue against the DENR and local government officials to press action on the indiscriminate dumping, citing these complaints.
?People are getting sick of respiratory and other serious ailments,? said the lawyers of the Global Legal Action on Climate Change.
?The Environmental Impact Statement of Kepco-SPC Power Corp. submitted to the Asian Development Bank for its $120 million loan facility clearly recognized that cancer, heart and upper respiratory ailments are prevalent among the people living near the coal power plant.?
The Province of Cebu last May signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Kepco to use 25 hectares of newly bought land of the Balili Estate as a coal ash landfill by the first quarter of 2011 when new power plants of Kepco start operations.
The power plant expansion project has an ECC issued by the DENR. However, none has been issued yet for the proposed coal ash dump site.
Luego yesterday said that although the moratorium declared was verbal, penalties can be imposed if SPC-Kepcom continues to improperly dispose of its coal ash.
?Coal ash dumping is a violation of their ECC because they should follow proper procedures.
?But if, after test results are released, the coal ash is found to be toxic, they would be liable for violating another law.? He was referring to Republic Act No. 6969, a law seeking to control toxic substances and hazardous wastes.
Luego said he invited members of the MMT to his office.
?We issued a letter informing them to attend a technical conference. We would like to determine who is dumping coal ash, who should be liable,? he said.
