Environment groups today filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to stop the government from approving more coal-fired power plants that contribute to harmful air pollution in the country.
“We are finally filing a case to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court against the total disregard of the laws of the land by our own government,” said Ian Rivera, national coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), which leads the coalition of green groups that include the Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC), the Center for Ecology, Energy and Development (CEED), Sanlakas, the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), as well as residents of Limay, Bataan, which hosts the 150-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant of SMC GLOBAL Power Holdings Corp..
De La Salle University-College of Law Dean Jose Manuel Diokno, lead convenor of the coalition, filed a 64-page petition for writ of continuing mandamus with temporary environmental protection asking the tribunal to order the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to stop issuing permits for new coal-fired power plants.
The group took the DENR and DOE to task for allegedly neglecting their duty and respective mandates to lessen the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and dirty energy.
They said the two agencies are supposed to be “the vanguards of energy security and environmental sustainability” but they allowed coal plants to proliferate making the country more dependent on fossil fuels.
“As a direct result of the failure of DENR and DOE to do their duties specifically enjoined by law and their respective offices, the country has had to rely on dirty energy generated by coal plants that have been operating without proper standards, without accountability, and without regard to their adverse impact on the environment and the people’s health. Unless this Honorable Court intervenes, the Philippines will be locked in to costly and harmful coal contracts for generations to come, despite the existence of renewable energy that is cleaner, cheaper, and better,” they said.
The petitioners asked the SC to order the DENR to “immediately review or revise” ambient air quality guideline values, emission standards for stationary sources, and effluent standards; disclose the coal plant companies operating without Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) and Continuous Emission Opacity Systems (COMS), as required by the Clean Air Act.
They also asked the Court to order the DOE to issue the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) rules, establish the Green Energy Options Program and reduce dependence on fossil fuels in order to comply with the Philippines’ commitments under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
The petitioners complained about coal’s share in the power mix in 2016, which they claimed has almost doubled at 47.7 percent and will reach 70 to 80 percent by 2030.
Gerry Arances, national coordinator of CEED, pointed out that when the government’s renewable energy program started in 2009, RE had a 34-percent share in the energy mix, but it was down to 29 percent last year.
Despite having laws that promote clean and cheap sources of energy, Arances said the country is going in the opposite direction.
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