Committee hearing on proposed coal-fired power plant continues

THE Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan committee on energy will continue its hearing on the proposed 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant in San Carlos City.

Third District Board Member Manuel Frederick Ko said the committee which he chairs will invite various concerned agencies to shed light on the matter.

He said they will assess first what was discussed in the previous hearing, adding they also asked representatives from the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, Department of Energy and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to provide them with data on the various sources of energy in the province.

The committee has no timeline yet as to when this will be finished but they will start soon so they can move on to discussing the environmental issues, Ko said.

They will also invite the opposing parties should the environmental concerns will be discussed, he added.

“But for now, we need to finish first gathering the data relative to the sources of energy. We will know by next Wednesday if who will be invited and the schedule of the [next] committee hearing,” he said.*