TOXIC ALARM UP OVER COAL POWER PLANT
By Delfin T. Mallari Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Vol. 16 No. 267, September 3, 2001
http://www.inq7.net/nat/2001/sep/03/na_2-1.htm

CALACA, Batangas--It was an eerie venue for a press conference, but not for a daring group of environmental activists from Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

From the vast ash pond, where the toxic byproducts of the 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant of the National Power Corp. are deposited in this coastal town south of Manila, the activists sent their message across: "Coal Kills."

At least 17 Greenpeace members on Thursday planted 200 white crosses in the barren ash field of the Napocor plant to dramatize the toxic pollution associated with coal-fired plants.

The group invited local and foreign journalists to witness its protest.

Representatives of the Crusade for Sustainable Environment based in Mauban, Quezon, which opposes the operation of a similar coal-fired power plant in their community, were also present to express solidarity.

"The communities surrounding the coal plant are potential graveyards," Red Constantino, energy campaigner of the Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said as he explained why the wooden crosses were planted.

Constantino disclosed results of recent tests that, he said, confirmed the presence of "neurotoxin mercury" in ash dumped by the Napocor on open fields beside the coastal fishing grounds of the Balayan Bay.

He gave a copy of the Greenpeace report to a certain Rodolfo Rabacca, plant official, at the gate.

The official signed a copy of the document to acknowledge receipt, but he declined to be interviewed by the journalists. Napocor experts still have to study the contents of the report, he said.

"The presence of mercury in the coastal plant’s waste stream is a clear demonstration of the grave threats posed by the combustion of coal for energy to human health and the environment," Constantino told the journalists, some of whom found their shoes stuck in the field of ashes.

Near the last row of crosses, eight activists raised a banner that read "Coal Kills" as the twin smokestacks of the power station loom over behind.

The power facility, which has been operating for the past 17 years, covers at least 65 hectares of land.

According to a Greenpeace report, ash samples taken from the coal waste field last May had "neurotoxin mercury" mixed with carbon. The samples were analyzed by the Philippine Institute for Pure and Applied Chemistry based in the Ateneo de Manila University.

Mercury is the only metal that remains liquid at room temperature. It is so dangerous that it takes only 1/70th of a teaspoon of it to contaminate a 62-hectare lake and make fish in it no longer safe for human consumption, the Greenpeace report said.

The toxic metal can also cause severe brain damage in developing fetuses, and mild tremors, mental disorders, motor and emotional disturbances and even death in exposed adults, it said.

"Typically, 50 percent of the mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants can travel up to 600 miles from the plant," Constantino pointed out.