Dirty, dangerous and deadly energy: coal-fired plant in Mariveles, Bataan and its impacts to the community.

Abstract

The growing demand for electric supply has spurred a lot of power-generating plants to arise. Coal is the cheapest source of energy and one of the most abundant in the Philippines, which attracts companies to invest in this business. The Department of Energy actually promotes coal-fired plants as one of the possible solutions in alleviating the country’s energy crisis. However, the dangers that coal-fired plants bring cannot be undermined. People often approve of coal-fired plants because of the belief that they will be given alternative livelihood aside from farming and fishing. The residents were promised jobs. However, coal-fired plants require highly-skilled workers because of the nature of the job. This means that most of the residents might not be hired. Their belief that the construction of such plants will lower electricity rates has also been disproved, as they have said that electricity rates soared from before. If nuclear energy is the most dangerous of all energies, coal energy is said to be the dirtiest. It has caused numerous deaths, occurrence of acid rains, destruction of crops, death of corals, mangroves and seaweeds, noise pollution, pulmonary and respiratory diseases, and destruction of the environment. Opposing the construction of coal-fired plants does not mean that people are opposing development. Coal was indeed one of the sources of energy which has contributed a lot in our development. However, because of the changing times, the people have identified the negative impacts of using coal. People have been exposed to the number of hazards that coal has caused the world. Coal is very toxic. It has poisoned the health of the people, it has poisoned the environment, and it has poisoned the community.