Group to contest issuance of ECC to Naga power plant

The Cebu Alliance for Renewable Energy will file a motion for reconsideration on the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate for Salcon Power Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation, which operates a coal-fired power plant in Colon, Naga town.

In a press conference yesterday, Vince Cinches, CARE-Cebu coordinator said that they will send their motion for reconsideration this Monday to the office of the Environmental Management Bureau in Manila.

The group was given 15 days to file their motion after they were able to secure a copy of the ECC from EMB.

EMB granted Salcon-Kepco's application for ECC on December 6 last year but CARE was only able to secure a copy last February 14. CARE has until March 1 to file its motion.

Cinches said that despite the fact that the proponents were not able to meet the requirements and environmental standards, former Environment Secretary Michael Defensor still gave his endorsement for the project and granted its application for ECC.

"Salcon-Kepco is very consistent in lying to the public not just once, twice and thrice. It is a sad fact that despite these violations by the proponent, our government agencies still give them permits - to kill the communities and environment," he said.

Among violations that CARE cited is the failure of Salcon-Kepco to get the endorsement of the Provincial Board and major erroneous claims and inaccurate information in the proponents' environmental impact study.

Cinches said that like what happened in Iloilo, Cebuanos will do every possible way to block the construction of the proposed 200 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Colon, Naga.

Kepco also proposed to construct a coal-fired power plant in Iloilo but did not push through after it received a lot of opposition from the residents, including local officials. - Wenna A. Berondo