Pe's committee junks "coal-free zone" plea

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council’s committee on energy, transportation, communication and other utilities junked a request from the environmental group to declare the city as coal-free zone.

The committee chaired by Councilor Augustus “Jun” Pe Jr. rejected the resolution from Youth Against Debt-Cebu Chapter asking the City Council to prohibit the use of coal in Cebu City.

In his committee report, Pe said the dwindling power supply in Cebu requires additional power plants which might include coal-fired power plant to answer to the growing power demand.

Pe’s committee instead supported for the construction of additional power plants, including coal-fired power plants which use clean coal technology to ensure a stable power supply in the years to come. The Youth Against Debt seeks to ban the construction of coal-fired power plants due to its alleged adverse effects to the environment. The group said that coal plants emit carbon dioxide that has been determined as the leading cause of climate change in the world.

But Pe’s committee believes that there is no reason anymore to prevent the development of coal-fired power plants because new technologies are available to make it environment friendly.

“The impression that coal means dust, black smoke, acid rain from sulfur and nitrogen oxide emissions of coal-fired power plants is no longer true with clean coal technologies continuously being developed,” the committee report says.

On the claim that the particles emitted by the coal plant contains heavy metals toxic to humans, the committee explained that human body naturally ingest heavy metals because they are “natural components of the earth’s crust, and to some extent, enters our bodies via food, drinking water and air.”

“Metals are naturally found in soils and water. Metals at certain levels of concentration can be helpful to the human body when absorbed. As trace elements, some heavy metals are essential to maintain the metabolism of the human body,” the committee report says.

The energy committee added that the coal ash produced by coal-powered plant using the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology is a product highly valued by cement companies. Cement companies use coal ash as an additive. (FREEMAN)