EMB cites 6 violations of oil treatment plant

SAN FERNANDO CITY – The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has issued a notice of violation to an oil treatment facility in Mangatarem, Pangasinan, citing six violations of environmental laws.

Residents of Barangay (village) Suaco in Mangatarem have been complaining about air and water pollution caused by the plant, which they said is endangering the residents’ health.

A notice of violation issued on April 8 to Mario Tan, owner of Martan Enterprises that operates the plant, said the facility has been operating and discharging waste water without a permit since March 16, and transporting hazardous wastes without a transport permit.

The notice, signed by Joel Salvador, EMB Ilocos director, also said the company was using a truck to transport hazardous wastes without valid registration as a hazardous waste transporter. The firm also failed to comply with the waste transport record requirement and it did not provide labels for hazardous waste containers and storage facilities.

Salvador ordered Tan to explain why the company should not be held liable for the violations and ordered him to attend a technical conference at the EMB office in this city.

He said if Tan failed to explain and attend the conference, the EMB would impose fines for each violation, without prejudice to the issuance of a cease-and-desist order.

In a previous interview, Tan said the plant “complies with all environmental rules and regulations.”

“Our plant is open for anyone to inspect. We have not received any complaints from the residents,” he said.

Tan said the plant was actually helping in environment protection by recycling used oil.

Last month, 153 residents signed a petition calling on different government agencies to “remove the plant” in their village, citing the danger it poses to the health of their children.

“[Our children] are constantly sick with respiratory irritation, recurring bronchitis and digestive problems. We have neighbors who wake up with soot on their faces and nostrils. The smell when [plant personnel] are burning materials is suffocating and unbearable. The trucks are damaging our barangay roads and they do not provide for repairs,” the petition said.

But Tan said no waste water has come out of the plant site. He also refuted residents’ allegations that the company’s vehicles were destroying the village’s roads.

“We only have two trucks, an [Isuzu] Elf and a six-wheel tanker,” he said.

The provincial board’s committee on environment held a public hearing on the issue that was attended by some residents and village officials and representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry and other agencies.

Board Member Von Mark Mendoza, environment committee chairman, said there were “adverse findings” during the hearing, such as the lack of a waste water facility in the plant.

He said they also discovered that the plant’s “housekeeping was not [environmentally] acceptable.”

Photographs of the plant’s surroundings showed dirty uncovered oil drums, oil spilling into the ground, oily hoses, open pit containing oil with steam emanating from it, cans of grease and damaged vehicles. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon