Mindanaotoday.com | Green’ advocates: Fossil gas expansion could worsen environmental situation
By: Jigger Jerusalem
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Environmentalists, affected communities and several leaders in the religious sector have expressed worry over the massive development of fossil gas power in the country amid the looming climate and environmental crises.
Groups are particularly concerned of the marine biodiversity hotspot Verde Island Passage (VIP) as they called on the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to do a “thorough rethink of plans to increase reliance on fossil gas nationally.”
The call is backed by findings of studies produced by the think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) and Caritas Philippines (CBCP-NASSA) on the quality and marine ecology of waters along with an existing 1,200-megawatt gas-fired power plant and two new gas projects in Barangay Ilijan in Batangas Bay – a liquefied natural gas (LNG terminal of Linseed Field Power Corporation and Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co., and a new 1,750 MW power plant of a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) Global Power.
The groups, together with Bukluran ng Mangingisda ng Batangas (BMB), hail under the banner of the Protect Verde Island Passage (Protect VIP) Campaign network.
According to the CEED, Verde Island Passage is a marine biodiversity hotspot known as the center of marine shorefish biodiversity in the world, housing 60% of all known shorefish species and thousands of other species.
It is, however, also the epicenter of fossil gas projects in the Philippines, a fossil fuel falsely touted as a clean alternative to coal.
Five of six existing gas-fired power plants, eight planned new LNG and fossil gas plants, and seven new LNG terminals are intended to be built here. This is but a portion of the 29.9 gigawatts of fossil gas power and nine LNG terminals in the national pipeline.
Fr. Tony Labiao, executive secretary of Caritas Philippines, the social arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the current operation and further expansion of the LNG at the VIP could have an adverse effect on the diverse marine life in the area.
“As we celebrate the bounty of nature and all the good we receive from it, we also raise alarm against an industry seeking to impose environmental destruction even as a climate and ecological crisis already rage: fossil gas. We are in solidarity with communities that are already or set to be impacted by it, and we stand firm in our commitment to fight dirty energy and care for this earth we call home,” Labiao said.
Marine ecology findings, meanwhile, show that while less fish biodiversity and fish abundance is present in the waters next to the project sites compared to the rest of the VIP due to stressors, fish biomass remains high.
Existing biodiversity in the Linseed-AG&P and SMC project sites, however, has already been subjected to destruction from construction operations.
“There is a glaring effect of the fossil gas industry to our rich marine resources and our coastal communities, especially our fisherfolk whose catch has been dwindling. We fear that this will not only happned in Batangas, but on the whole expanse of the Verde Island Passage,” said Fr. Gariguez, leader convenor of Protect VIP and Social Action Director of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan.
Gariguez added: “If we can harness power from clean and renewable energy, why rely on fossil gas that has proven to be destructive?”
For his part, Gerry Arances, CEED executive director, said fossil gas is a bane for the environment as the public is being made to believe that it is beneficial to the country energy needs by the industry players.
“What we see and will see happening in VIP will be mirrored in communities host to fossil gas projects across the country. The gas industry has been peddling lies of its ability to provide cheap, clean, and reliable electricity. All-time high gas prices today prove this is not true, and the glimpse we get to see today of the environmental destruction it can cause proves that it is simply unwise to go for fossil gas expansion,” Arances said.
Unfortunately, this is the direction the next government seems intent on taking – and this calls for a thorough rethinking, he added.
Also, the groups, led by BMB, filed a letter request at the main office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) urging the department to declare the waters of VIP surrounding the SMC, Linseed-AG&P, and existing gas power plant project sites as a “non-attainment area” where “specific pollutants from the either natural or man-made source have already exceeded water quality guidelines” where no new sources of the exceeded pollutants should be allowed to be established.
“We are appealing to your good office to declare the VIP and nearby areas such as the Batangas Bay East and their surrounding waters as non-attainment areas for pollutants that have exceeded under the Philippine Clean Water Act. Further increase in the pollutant level in these waters must be avoided,” read a part of the letter to the DENR by BMM headed by its chairperson Tomas Buitizon.