Red tide, coal shipment have no link, says firm

DAGUPAN CITY—An official of the company that owns the coal-fired power plant in Sual, Pangasinan, on Thursday said ships delivering coal to the plant via the Lingayen Gulf had nothing to do with the red tide occurrences in the province’s coastal areas.

In a text message, Froilan Gregory Romualdez III, Team Energy Corp. head of external affairs, said while he respected the opinion of Dr. Westly Rosario, head of the National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center, the company found his conclusion “very unlikely.”

Rosario had said the red tide episode in the coastal waters of Alaminos City in September may have come from “seeds” of harmful algae accidentally introduced into the Lingayen Gulf years ago by ships delivering coal to the power plant.

Periodic monitoring

But Romualdez, in a letter to the Inquirer, said his company “periodically conducts a thorough monitoring of coastal waters and surrounding marine resources.”

“The monitoring includes physical oceanography, corals and associated reef fish, soft bottom bentos, sea grass and seaweeds,” he said.

He said recent results of a study conducted by marine biologists from Aecom Philippines showed that no harmful algal blooms had been found in the area from 2011 to May this year.

“The coastal waters in Sual still remain red-tide free even though ships delivering coal stay in the area for at least five days,” he said.

He said the ships draw in ballast water from the Sual jetty area, which is free of red tide.

Red tide record

Ships delivering coal reach the plant’s offloading jetty in the Lingayen Gulf from the West Philippine Sea by cruising near the coastlines of Bolinao and Anda towns, before docking to unload the coal.

Rosario said when he was first assigned to the province in 1997, Pangasinan had never experienced red tide since the first outbreak was recorded in Samar province in 1983.

But in 2001, he said, after a massive fish kill struck Bolinao, red tide occurred in that town and Anda.

“Red tide has predisposing factors. First is that the red tide seed should already be there. Then, there should be an abundance of nutrients,” Rosario said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon