Government officials have emphasized the economic benefits of oil and natural gas mining in Alegria town of southwestern Cebu as they anticipated the start of such activity by the Chinese International Petroleum Company Limited.
Alegria Mayor Verna Magallon said oil and gas mining is expected to be a means of employment for townsfolk and a source of increased revenue for the improvement of social services.
Saul Gonzales, the energy department’s Visayas field director concurred, adding that the operation of mines in upland barangay Montpeller would also spur the establishment of allied businesses that can help locals.
But here’s the rub. The Chinese firm has yet to secure an environmental compliance certificate from the environment department following impact assessment by the Environmental Management Bureau.
The bureau should be thorough and forthright in studying the consequences of oil and gas mining on the people and ecology of Alegria.
The main question is whether permission should be granted to start pumping oil and gas there, a supply that is projected to run out in less than two decades when in the first place the town sits along the protected Tañon seascape.
What has that got to do with oil and gas mining inland?
Water bodies in Alegria, including waterfalls like Cambais and Kitara, springs and natural subterranean waterways feed the Tañon Strait.
Can the government countenance the consequence of waste from the mines seeping into the waterways and making it into the open sea? Tañon Strait, with its corals and 14 species of whales and dolphins would bear the brunt of a 19-year oil spill.
We have not even discussed yet the potential impact of petroleum and gas extraction in the immediate environs of the mines.
What will happen to the towns sources of drinking water, mountain forests, farmlands and endemic animal species? What will happen to people’s ancestral lands and homes?
Is there a way to eliminate the harms associated with oil and gas extraction in Alegria? If there is not, the energy department should not talk as if this is an answer to a prayer.
The last thing the town that is being marketed as a wellness destination by the Province of Cebu needs is extractive activity that despoils it for both residents and wellness tourists.
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