WASTE. Environmentalists complained about this mound of coal ash dumped in a vacant lot in barangay Poblacion, Naga City in this 2009 photo. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
Coal ash residue from the 200-megawatt power plant in the City of Naga is being recycled by a cement company and a construction firm, Mayor Valdemar Chiong said yesterday.
Chiong said the Korean Electric Power Corp.-Salcon Power Plant (Kepco-SPC) tied up with Apo Cement Company and Geo-Transport for the disposal of their coal waste.
Kepco-SPC’s plant in Colon, Naga generates 120 tons of coal ash daily. Apo Cement and Geo-Transport use the coal waste in cement production.
Kepco-SPC had to find other ways to dispose of their ash waste since their 2010 agreement with the Cebu provincial government for a coal ash waste disposal facility in the Balili estate did not push through.
“There is no need for them to dump it because all of the waste goes to Apo and Geo Transport. We are happy that the waste has been taken care of by Kepco,” Chiong told reporters.
Recently, the Cebu provincial government and Kepco-SPC “mutually decided” to terminate their $1 million agreement for a coal ash disposal facility in the Balili property in barangay Tinaan, Naga.
The agreement, entered into by former governor Gwendolyn Garcia, never materialized after she was charged before the Sandiganbayan for alleged irregularities in the Balili land purchase and ecology advocates questioned the pollution hazard posed by the presence of coal ash.
The initial payment of US$500,000 or around P22 million was waived by the Kepco-SPC in favor of the province.
“I think it’s about time that the deal ended because it has been years. At the same time, the local government of Naga has no participation in that deal,” said Chiong at the Capitol yesterday.
Geo-Transport is involved in construction and site development and has facilities in Talisay City, Tayud, Liloan and Balamban.
Greenpeace advocates wrote the Capitol in 2010 warning that coal ash waste has toxic substances like arsenic, lead, boron, cadmium and cobalt. The power plant was completed in 2011. Emissions from coal-fired power plants have been identified as a major contributor of greenhouse gases which result in climate change.
A fishpond in the Balili estate was converted into an ash pit with plastic sheets laid out to line the area. It had a pending permit as a sanitary landfill but the project was aborted before the 2013 election .