Coal-fired power plants in the cities of Naga and Toledo are not allowed to dump coal ash outside the court-designated area in barangay Landahan, Toledo City.
Neither can they use the Balili property to store their coal ash waste.
The decision was made by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Marilyn Ligura-Yap of Branch 28 in Mandaue City who denied the motion of power plant owners covered by a Temporary Environment Protection Order (Tepo) she issued two years ago.
The judge also denied the motion of the Capitol allow the use of the province-owned Balili property as a disposal area.
Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. filed a motion for modification of the TEPO the court issued in August 2010 and indefinitely extended in March last year while Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC) filed a motion to dissolve the TEPO.
The Cebu provincial government, on the other hand, filed a motion to allow the power plants to dump coal ash in Balili property’s ash pond in barangay Tinaan, Naga.
Judge Yap denied all three motions.
“The court continues to adhere to the precautionary principle to avoid or diminish the threat to human life or health, inequity to present or future generations or prejudice to the environment,” said the judge.
Judge Yap said that if Kepco-SPC would be allowed to dump its waste in Capitol’s Balili property, then it would mean that the TEPO would be dissolved and CEDC-Toledo Power Plant would be allowed to “indiscriminately dump” their coal ash.
“The TEPO has been issued to prevent the indiscriminate dumping of coal ash. It would run counter to its purpose if it will be dissolved,” the order said.
Yap said that if these private power producers would want to dump their coal ash in other alternative sites, then they must inform the court of the location and the manner of transport and disposal of the waste.
The court earlier allowed Kepco-SPC to move coal ash to facilities of Geo-Transport and Construction Inc., which is supplying filling materials to a contractor of the South Road Propertiesand to FDR Integrated Resource and Recovery Management Inc. in barangay Pangdan, Naga.
But the court had yet to reassess whether Geo-Transport and FDR have the capacity to receive Kepco’s daily volume of 120 metric tons of coal ash.
The Capitol will seek a reconsideration of the order.
“We will definitely contest it,” Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla told Cebu Daily News.
The court order mentioned the report of Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environment and Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) in Central Visayas, which classified Kepco’s coal ash as non-hazardous and that dumping it using “a system of clay layers and/or geo-synthetic membranes was acceptable.”
Even if the DENR-EMB agreed that one of the coal ash ponds in the Balili property could be used without bentonite clay, the judge said they should not contradict the Impact Management Plan (IMP) of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) of the landfill that prescribed for the layering of bentonite clay.
“If DENR-EMB were to reduce these options to clay layers or geo-synthetic membranes, the threat of contamination becomes clear and imminent,” the order said.
The environment agency should not disregard the requirements since it is mandatory under RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
If the requirements would not be achieved, then DENR-EMB would have failed its mandate of enforcing environment laws.
Kepco lawyer Guillermo Dabbay earlier said the company is “almost drowning” in coal ash and would be forced to cease operations if it has nowhere to dispose of their wastes.
Kepco produces 200 megawatts of power, which has helped ease Cebu’s power shortage. /with Reporter Ador Vincent S. Mayol