Greenpeace urges caution on emergency powers

BROWNOUTS, like this one that sent a resident of Camalig, Albay, having dinner in the dark at the height of Typhoon “Glenda,” could be the norm because of a projected electricity shortage next year but government critics said the solution does not lie in giving the President emergency powers. MARK ALVIC ESPLANA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

DAVAO CITY—The environment pressure group Greenpeace has expressed concern over proposals to grant emergency powers to President Aquino to deal with a projected crisis in power supply in the coming months, saying such proposals were not the solution.

“Addressing power scarcity needs a holistic approach,” said Reuben Andrew Muni, Greenpeace Philippines climate and energy campaigner, in an e-mail statement.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla had asked Aquino to invoke Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), which would give the President emergency powers to deal with a projected shortage in electricity next year.

Among others, emergency powers would allow the President to authorize negotiated contracts to build power plants that could lead to more independent power producers.

Greenpeace’s Muni said the group finds Petilla’s pronouncement disturbing.

“Government’s first order of business should be to promote energy efficiency and introduce more renewable energy sources in the power mix,” said Muni, criticizing the government’s continued dependence on coal-fired power plants.

Investments in coal plants, he said, tend to block off investments on renewable energy and prolong the country’s dependence on highly polluting sources of electricity.

In a report released recently, Greenpeace assailed the government’s continued fixation with coal-fired power plants as main energy sources.

The group warned that continued reliance on coal as energy source will only push the country to the brink of climate-related catastrophes that would bring disastrous effects to the economy.

“Our country is at the forefront of climate change-influenced extreme weather events and we’ve seen it happen more frequently, with typhoons becoming more intense and more deadly like (Supertyphoon) ‘Yolanda,’” said Muni.

The second volume of the “True Cost of Coal (TCC)” report that Greenpeace had released looked into the country’s historical climate data and found that evidence of climate change is now clearer.

“Increasing trends in annual mean temperature have been noted and extreme weather and climate events, like increasing number of hot days and warm nights and intense 24-hour rainfall, are being seen to be more frequent,” the report said.

“These are not unusual anymore and are becoming the norm,” it added. The report listed the Philippines as a “climate hot spot”. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao