Oil spill and clean energy
No photograph or video could fully capture the extent of the damage of the oil spill and yet the images we’ve seen are already so alarming – coastlines drenched in black sludge, water covered with oil and workers in PPEs.
It’s like an apocalyptic movie but sadly it’s the real thing, right here in our very own waters.
The air in the affected areas, I can only imagine, must be so toxic which is why many have fallen sick with dizziness and cough.
This is an absolute emergency and President Marcos and his government must consider it as such. But I don’t sense the urgency from the administration. The President’s social media posts are filled with other matters – which of course may be important too, but perhaps not as urgent as this disaster.
Affected areas are in a state of calamity after a tanker sank last Feb. 28 some 400 meters deep in the waters of Oriental Mindoro, spilling the 800,000 liters of industrial oil it carried.
Most of the slick swathed that province’s northeastern shores. By March 10, the black slick reached the shores of northeastern Palawan, Time has reported.
During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Dr. Cesar Villanoy from the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute said that based on scientific modeling, local monsoon winds were able to limit the coverage of the slick, but these winds are bound to stop in a few weeks, and may cause further spread of the spill, Time also reported.
As I write this, 140,000 people, including some 13,600 fisherfolk, have been affected by the spill across several municipalities, the Philippine Office of Civil Defense has reported.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said 21 marine protected areas can be potentially affected due to oil spillage. Some 2,200 hectares of coral reefs and 1,600 hectares of mangroves may also be damaged.
The spill may harm the waters and coral reefs at popular diving destinations in the region, including the Verde Island Passage and Apo Reef in Mindoro and World War II shipwrecks in Palawan.
Accountability
Against this backdrop, those responsible must be held liable. These include the tanker, the Maritime Industry Authority or Marina and the Philippine Coast Guard which either allowed the tanker to operate or failed to stop it despite not having the necessary permits, as was revealed during the Senate hearing.
As for the cargo owner which has yet to be named or identified by the government, under the Oil Compensation Act of 2007, a charterer can’t be made to pay for pollution damage but I believe it is morally obligated to help in the clean-up and the long-term rehabilitation of the affected areas.
San Miguel Corp. has neither confirmed nor denied a report saying that it was its subsidiary that chartered the tanker. In any case, SMC through its oil refiner Petron has committed to assist in the clean-up efforts as did other oil firms.
Again, I reiterate this is a disaster of epic proportions; the government must treat it as such. Affected communities, our hapless fishermen, must be provided assistance and calamity funds; those responsible for what happened must be held accountable and perhaps it’s time to tighten regulations over potentially dangerous cargo.
And while we’re at it, we must also ask ourselves – why is it that we never seem to learn from oil spills and sea disasters of decades past; why is it that accidents like this just keep on happening over and over, again and again?
Green capitalism
Despite choppy markets, a renewable energy company is braving the stock market.
Alternergy priced its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) at P1.28 per share and is all set to list on March 24.
I’ve been hearing from brokers that demand is strong despite the market rout triggered by concerns over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Perhaps it’s because Alternergy is unique unlike the earlier renewable IPOs, because of its triple play renewable portfolio in wind, solar, run of river and battery storage, with an experienced team led by former energy secretary Vince Perez whom I’ve had the chance to cover during his stint at the energy department.
For Sec. Vince, doing a public listing is returning to his comfort zone. Before he was energy secretary, Sec. Vince was a seasoned investment banker taking several companies public in London, New York and Singapore.
Alternergy has been planning for this IPO for the past two years, and during this time, Vince and his team have quietly reached out to their network in the financial industry.
His team believes that renewable energy is the legacy they can bequeath to the next generation, and the next and so on.
They believe that a Filipino family should be a participant in what they call “green capitalism” or individual participation in clean energy.
Unique for an owner of a company going public, Sec. Vince has personally approached old friends in stock brokerage firms to ensure wide participation by retail investors, the young professionals and the families investing for their children, I learned from industry sources.
I also heard that because Alternergy’s mantra is to grow a triple play renewable portfolio for the next generation, Vince and his partners plan to bring their children to witness the listing ceremony on March 24.
Actually, Sec. Vince became a father just four years ago and perhaps he’s made it his mission to leave a lasting legacy for his four-year old daughter – renewable energy as the dominant fuel source for the country.
Against this backdrop, many have been predicting the end of the oil era. Are we there yet? Not quite, but hopefully, it will happen.
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