PETRON Corp. has been cleared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of alleged environmental and health violations.
The DENR, Petron President Ramon S. Ang said, “has already issued an Ore Transport Permit [OTP].”
This permit is crucial as it allows the transport of ore from the mines to the market. If such permit is not issued, it effectively stops the company’s operations.
“The OTP was issued. Itinawag na kanina. The DENR was just misled,” said Ang, who is also the president of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). Petron is a subsidiary of SMC.
It was not clear if the permit was already handed to Petron Corp.’s 140 megawatt (MW) cogeneration plant in Limay, Bataan. Ang only said calls were made to issue the permit.
Ang revealed this after his meeting with Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez on Wednesday morning. During the meeting, Ang said he brought all the legal documents to prove not one of the company-owned facilities violated any laws.
The mayor of Limay, Bataan, alleged there were “environmental issues and problems posed by the oil spill at the Bataan Thermal Power Plant [BTPP]/Pan Asia area; oil spill near the mouth of the Alangan river; and the ash dump near the Petron Limay Terminal [PLT] area.”
The company was issued notices of violation on December 28, 2016, and January 6, 2017, by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for ash that had allegedly polluted a waterway.
Ang said the oil-spill incident at the BTPP occurred in July last year and was caused by a former employee of the contractor by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“The spill is 5 kilometers away from the Petron facility. The mayor of Limay wrote nine letters blaming us for the spill. Why blame us when the BTPP is owned by the NPC [National Power Corp.] and the pipeline was damaged by the DPWH?” Ang said.
On accusation of ash dump near the mouth of Alangan river, Ang said this incident could not be blamed on Petron because the facility is 2 km away from the river.
“The issue of scattered ash near the river is not true. The bottom ash will be brought to the cement plant as raw mix to clinker so walang mag-ge-generate na waste. Lahat ng plant na CFB [circulating fluidized bed]. Kahit coal-fired, walang generated bottom ash at fly ash dahil needed sa cement plants,” Ang said.
Near Petron’s Limay plant is SMC Global Power Corp.’s 600-MW power plant, which will utilize the state-of-the-art CFB clean-coal technology, is targeted to start full commercial operations by August 2018.
Unit 1 will be commissioned in May 2017; Unit 2 by August 2017, Unit 3 by June 2017; and Unit 4 by August 2018. “It is not yet running on coal, but on diesel. So, how can the ash come from us?” Ang said.
The company also found out, based on a report from the provincial health office, the reported skin diseases of residents are actually scabies which is in no way connected to exposure to ash.