Senator Urges Fossil Fuels Shutdown

The Clean Air Act is to be implemented as soon as possible according to the wish of Senator Gregorio Honasan.

The implementation of this act will cause the immediate closure of coal-fired power plants of the National Power Corp. and a number of independent power producers.

The Napocor and the IPPs are to close to 3,600 megawatts of coal-fired power plants supplying 45 percent of the electricity demand on Luzon.

The reason of the emergent decision is the fact that I and II power plants of Napocor registered at least nine deaths from lung cancer, more than 20 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and dozens more cases of asthma and other respiratory diseases in the last five years.

The closure of these power plants shouldn’t affect supply of electricity greatly in Luzon, as there is an oversupply from the power plants whose operations are being paid for by the consumers anyway with their continued payment of the PPA.

Though a third of the power now generated in the country comes from natural gas the environmental situation won’t improve much as the energy sector still relies on fossil fuels, such as coal.

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