DOE urged to cancel approval of coal power plant expansion in Cebu town

FILE PHOTO: The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) is urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to take back its endorsement of a coal power plant expansion in Toledo, Cebu. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

MANILA, Philippines — An environmental group is urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to take back its endorsement of a coal power plant expansion in Toledo, Cebu.

The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) said DOE’s decision to exempt Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI)’s 169-megawatt power plant from its 2020 coal moratorium may have failed to consider the energy facility’s impacts on the health of residents, especially children.

“While the environment may ostensibly recover through offsetting emissions aggressively, a child who grows up exposed to polluted air may carry it with them forever or worse. They say it’s clean coal, but its effects on air quality and health prove that it’s still dirty and deadly,” PMCJ Visayas Public Policy Analyst Lito Vasquez said in a statement.

“Real economic growth doesn’t ignore people getting sick,” he added.

The PMCJ also asserted that DOE’s endorsement of the facility expansion contradicts the worldwide call to phase out coal.

“Phasing out all coal by 2030 is non-negotiable if we want to limit global warming to 1.5C. It is good that we are getting more renewable energy projects, but as long as these coal plants are operating, they will continue to worsen global warming,” said PMJC National Coordinator Ian Rivera.

READ: Gov’t tells power firms: Voluntarily retire coal-fired plants

On January 31, DOE announced its exclusion of the TVI power plant expansion from the coal moratorium. Business leaders have welcomed this move.

DOE’s coal moratorium calls for a halt in the processing of applications for coal-fired power generation projects.