Kepco given one month to address coal dust

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia is giving the Korean Electric Power Company (Kepco) one month to put in place mitigating measures to contain the coal dust in their power plant which was recently pestering the nearby communities in the city of Naga.

During a meeting with Garcia last Thursday, Kepco general manager Victorio Naval explained that due to the preventive maintenance shutdown of one of its units, the stocks of raw coal have piled up in the coal stockyard.

The strong winds became carrier agents for dust affecting the houses nearby.

Naval assured Garcia that the plant will be using fine-holed mesh or nets to contain the coal in their yard similar to what they have done to contain the coal ash.

However, Naval said that the netting will only be for short term.

“We will have to continually improve the facility. We have to check the integrity of the immediate solution then evaluate for the long-term action,” he said.

Garcia gave them a month to finish the said mitigation.

Protective measures are now being put in place by Kepco to mitigate and prevent more incidents of coal dust after the City Government of Naga lifted the cease and desist order it earlier issued against Kepco’s loading and unloading of coal.

The order was lifted two days after its issuance following the submission of the plant’s action plan to the city government.

Naval earlier said they will check the integrity of the immediate solution but they are glad that the order was lifted since the demand of energy supply is expected to increase especially with the month of December.

Residents living near the power plant earlier complained that black dusts coming from the coal yard have reached their houses.

Kepco admitted the dust came from its plant prompting them to immediately stop the unloading of coal.

After the meeting with the governor, Naval apologized for what had happened and that they considered the incident as very isolated.

Garcia met with Kepco to get assurance that stringent measures will be executed by the company to prevent concerns like this in the future.— FPL (FREEMAN)