Greenpeace Dumps Coal at Environment Ministry

Greenpeace Dumps Coal at Environment Ministry

April 2008  - Philippines Environment 
Secretary Lito Atienza has agreed to review the environmental compliance 
certificate for a proposed coal plant in Iloilo City following a dialogue 
with Greenpeace representatives. 
Greenpeace activists dumped half a ton of coal at the entrance of the 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, DENR, on Thursday and 
unfurled a banner with the message "Atienza, don’t be a climate criminal." 
The activists are demanding that the environment secretary reject plans to 
construct the Iloilo City coal-burning power plant, which they say would 
pollute the air and worsen global warming. 

Iloilo is the capital city of the province of Iloilo in the Philippines. 
Located 280 miles from Manila, it is the regional center and the main 
economic hub of the Western Visayas region. 
Instead of actual coal, Greenpeace used charcoal for their demonstration, 
which they say is safer than the coal used in power plants. 
When burned, coal releases toxic gases such as mercury that have health 
impacts on downwind communities as well as carbon dioxide, the main 
greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. 
"It is a crime against humanity to abet climate change, a crime that 
Secretary Atienza can stop by denying the issuance on an Environmental 
Compliance Certificate to the Iloilo Coal plant," said Jasper Inventor, 
Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner. 
Atienza, a former mayor of Manila, welcomed to the DENR the Greenpeace 
delegation led by Inventor. Atienza said that, like Greenpeace, he is 
committed to fighting the adverse impacts of climate change and other 
threats to the environment. 
"I am with you with regards to our environmental concerns, but we also 
have to consider the other interests of the nation. If the coal plant is 
going to be providing energy, and if there are demands for it by the 
national economy and by the people, I cannot take a position very similar 
to yours. But I assure you that we both have the same goal of keeping our 
environment clean and safe," Atienza told Greenpeace. 
"If Mr. Atienza is, as he claims, serious about working toward solutions 
to the climate problem, then he should take the lead in blocking the 
construction and expansion of the Iloilo plant and any other similar coal 
project in the country," Inventor said. 
Greenpeace reminded Secretary Atienza about his own statements at the UN 
climate change meeting in Bali last December, where he called on world 
governments to act urgently and decisively to reverse climate change. 
Atienza told delegates to the Bali conference that climate change will 
condemn the Philippines to poverty, and, worldwide, will displace some 340 
million people while depriving 1.8 billion people of drinking water. 
"We have brought this charcoal to him today to remind him of his words, if 
he eats them, then he can eat coal as well," said Inventor during the 
demonstration. 
"And it is under his stewardship that the DENR is due to decide on the 
issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate for the Iloilo coal 
plant whose construction plans have been met with massive resistance from 
civil society, church, and community groups in the city," Inventor said. 

Atienza agreed on the viability of turning to other sources of energy like 
wind and solar power and biodiesel, all of which he said the DENR has been 
pushing for full-blown application in the country. 
"Greenpeace can help the DENR by pointing out the negative aspects of 
using coal," he said. "We cannot afford to be railroaded into using coal 
as a source of energy when it may pose a threat to our communities.’’ 
Coal-fired power plants now account for 36 percent of the country’s carbon 
dioxide emissions from the energy sector, and there are still at least 
eight coal-fired plants lined up for construction or expansion in the 
Philippines, including the 165 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Iloilo. 
"Iloilo does not need this coal plant," said Melvin Purzuelo of 
Responsible Ilonggos for Sustainable Energy, RISE. "At present, there is 
an oversupply of 85MW in Panay Island and Guimaras." 
"Beginning October 2008, there will be an additional oversupply when the 
existing submarine cable linking Panay Island to the Negros geothermal 
grid starts providing an additional 30 megawatts of electricity," said 
Purzuelo. 
"On top of that, when the submarine cable is upgraded also later this 
year, Iloilo will receive an additional 100 megawatts, bringing the total 
electricity oversupply to 215 megawatts," 
Greenpeace and RISE maintain that needed power additions can be supplied 
by a range of renewable energy alternatives from small hydro, biomass and 
wind within Panay, and the expansion of geothermal power plants within the 
Visayas grid, eliminating the need for coal.

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