LIMAY, Bataan—The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) on Wednesday issued a notice of violation to the firm salvaging scrap from decommissioned Bataan Thermal Power Plant (BTPP) in Limay town here after the agency confirmed that oil has been leaking from the site.
“There is evidence that the leak is coming from BTPP. We’ve found traces,” Lormelyn Claudio, EMB Central Luzon regional director, told the Inquirer.
The notice of violation, she said, allows a team from the EMB to conduct further investigation into the leaking bunker oil along the coast of Barangay (village) Kitang Dos here from May 26 to May 28.
Residents reported incidents of fishkill as a result of the slick. Village leaders reported that at least 300 fishermen in the town have been losing their regular catch following the leak.
At past 3 p.m. on Wednesday, tension rose at the BTPP compound when security guards refused to allow the EMB team, which was accompanied by policemen, to enter the compound to serve the notice of violation.
After negotiations, however, the representatives of the EMB and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and some village councilors were allowed to enter the compound to get chemical samples.
More violations
The notice of violation was delivered by the EMB to the Uni-wide Scrap Traders Corp. (USTC), which has been contracted by a group representing the former workers of BTPP. Another copy of the notice was sent by mail.
Claudio said the EMB was checking the extent of the leak. She said refusing entry to authorities validating environmental issues was a violation of Republic Act No. 9275 (Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004).
The state-run privatization agency Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM), which owns the decommissioned 225-megawatt BTPP, sold the scrap of BTPP to Rubenori Inc. for $2.8 million in 2009. The sale covered structures, plant equipment, auxiliaries and accessories, according to an Inquirer report.
But sources from the Bataan provincial government said Rubenori failed to comply with the asset purchase agreement, forcing the provincial government to step in to help settle the claims of about 6,000 workers laid off by BTPP.
USTC took over the salvaging of the scrap from BTPP.
Claudio said the EMB had yet to find out why bunker oil or chemicals appeared to be still kept at the facility.
WB loan
She said BTPP, which was built by the National Power Corp. on a World Bank loan in the 1970s, had no environmental compliance certificate because by that time, the Philippine environmental impact assessment system was not yet in place.
Former BTPP watchmen, who live in Barangay Kitang Dos, said the facility still kept hundreds of oil drums.
Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia approved in October 2013 the dismantling of BTPP but required the hauler to ensure the safety of the public from hazardous waste.
Former BTPP employees continued to press for back wages and benefits through shares in the sale of the plant’s scrap. Reports from Tonette Orejas and Greg Refraccion, Inquirer Central Luzon