WHETHER YOU ARE FROM ABORLAN, PALAWAN OR NOT PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO SIGN IT AS WELL BY SHARING THIS PETITION-POST WITH THEM.

PETITION TO THE ABORLAN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AND ALL THAT ARE UNDER THE LAW APPROVING GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ON THIS MATTER 

 

 TO

PROHIBIT THE CONSTRUCTION OF A COAL-FIRED ELECTRIC POWER PLANT IN ABORLAN, PALAWAN:

Aborlan is a town with a population of 33,000 in the Philippines’ island of Palawan, which was voted to be the best island in the world in 2012 by the Travel+Leisure Magazine.   It is about 120 kilometers south of Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is a major source of vegetables and other agricultural products for the people and tourists of Palawan.

Aborlan should prohibit the putting up of a coal-powered power plant in its area for the following reasons:

1. The nearby municipality of Narra decided to prohibit the putting up of a coal-fired power plant in their municipality. The muncipal and other local government offcials of Aborlan could very well have heard the same arguments on the doubtful merits the coal-fired power plant that are being currently presented by its proponents to the people of Aborlan. To quote Narra’s Mayor Lucena Demaala “we can’t gamble the health of our community over the revenues to be generated from the operation of a DMCI coal-fired power-plant, that this may generate degradation in our coastal areas and greatly affect the wildlife we have been protecting for so many years… “

2. Coal-fired power plants are polluting our neighboring provinces.

 The  coal-powered plants of Iloilo is now a source of stationary pollution as noted by no less than  Iloilo’s  City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in its ‘State of Iloilo City’s Environment’ report."

"The residents of Calaca, Batangas complain about the foul smell, pollution and ill-effects to their health and livelihood due to the coal-powered plant in their area yet government authorities continue to disbelieve their complaints."

“Kumakain pa rin kami sa loob ng kulambo para mabawasan ang abo na dadapo sa aming pagkain (We still take our meals under the mosquito net to prevent the ash from falling on our food),” said residents of Barangay San Rafael, Quisumbing, Pag-asa and Baclaran - the villages surrounding the coal-fired power plant in Calaca. Isidro de los Reyes, Barangay  Dacanlao councilor, could only sigh and comment, “Dapat matuto na ang mga kababayan natin sa aming karanasan. Tingnan ninyo, nasira na nga ang mga bukid at ilog namin, pati hangin, nasira na’t dumumi, nawalan pa ng trabaho ang mga taga-rito (People should learn from our sad experience. Look, our farms and rivers are gone. We lost not only the air we breathe but also our jobs.)."

 

3. China has announced this September 2013 that it will ban new coal-fired power plants in three key industrial regions around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The country’s State Council or Cabinet says the country's air pollution situation is "grim" and is "harming people's health and affecting social harmony and stability."  In some of China’s largest cities anxious residents grapple with "choking smog that can persist for days and even weeks".

 

4. Coal makes people sick. Doctors, nurses, and scientists from around the world reported through a study conducted by the organization Physicians for  Social Responsibility, a Nobel Peace Prize awardee, concluded that  pollutants from coal affect all major body  organ systems and contribute to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the U.S.: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

 5. In 2010, “two-thirds of all airborne mercury pollution in the United States came from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. In other words, power plants generate more airborne mercury pollution than all other industrial sources combined.” 

Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that can damage the brain and nervous system.

 

6. Coal-fired power plants, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, continue to be the United States’ single largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., emitting on average about a ton of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced.

 

CONCLUSION

The DMCI Power Corporation (the proposed coal-fired power plant’s operator), given Palawan's or the Philippines' modest resources compared to the U.S. cannot and should not assure the people of Palawan that the municipal government of Aborlan, the PCSD, the provincial government of Palawan, and DMCI (all combined) let alone the Philippines’ national government can do a better job than the U.S. in mitigating the ill-effects of coal.

PROHIBIT THE CONSTRUCTION OF A COAL-FIRED ELECTRIC POWER PLANT IN ABORLAN, PALAWAN

 

 References:

1. http://blog.loroparque.com/en/demaala-stands-strong-for-clean-energy/​

2. http://www.iloilonewstoday.com/libre/index.php/component/k2/item/686-coal-plant-pollutes-iloilo​

​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDwxXOCUaq4​

 Soriano, Yna, “ Under (Coal)  Fire by Napocor  http://www.bulatlat.com/archive1/023calaca.html​

3.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324094704579069983984013094.html​; http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-china-coal-pollution-idUSBRE98B01N20130912​; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/world/asia/china-releases-plan-to-reduce-air-pollution.html?_r=0​

​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DtOhe2LfQ​

4. Physicians for Social Responsibility,”Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” November 2009, http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/psr-coal-fullreport.pdf​

5. Madsen, Travis and L. Randall, “America’s Biggest Mercury Polluters.” Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group, November 2011,http://www.environmentamerica.org/reports/ame/americas-biggest-mercury-polluters-how-cleaning-dirtiest-power-plants-will-protect​

6. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2008,” December 2009, http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/ghg_report/pdf/0573(2009).pdf​

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/