Greenpeace Targets Incoming Coal Shipment in Quezon

Pagbilao, Quezon, 24 May 2008–Greenpeace activists aboard Rainbow
Warrior, anchored alongside Pagbilao coal plant, painted the words ‘Quit
Coal’ on the hull of a 223 meter vessel ‘Sam John Spirit’ standing by to
unload yet another shipment of thousands of tons of coal at Pagbilao
power plant in the Philippines. The Rainbow Warrior is in the
Philippines on its ‘Quit Coal-Save the Climate’ tour of Southeast Asia
and the Pacific.

The Rainbow Warrior has anchored alongside the said coal-fired power
plant since yesterday to expose how coal causes climate change and to
send a message that the Philippines should stop building and expanding
harmful coal-fired power plants. The Pagbilao coal plant is one of nine
currently in the government’s pipeline for either expansion or construction.

The Greenpeace ship’s anchorage was in no way impeding the unloading of
coal currently ongoing at the plant’s wharf, or preventing the plant’s
generating operations. The plant itself currently has enough stockpile
to run uninterrupted for around a month. The activists painted a third
coal shipment, Sam John Spirit, at anchor some four kilometers from the
wharf. Greenpeace is sending a message that coal expansion should stop
because of coal’s huge environmental costs.

“Enough is enough, there should be no more construction or expansion of
coal fired power plants in the Philippines. We cannot allow our
short-sighted government to burn our future. Pagbilao coal plant alone
dumps as much as five million tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere every year. The more coal we burn, the
lesser our chances are of effectively combating the climate change
catastrophe,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaign Manager Beau
Baconguis onboad the Rainbow Warrior.

There are currently eight coal-fired power plants in the Philippines,
with a total capacity of 4,177 MW, or about 26.1% of the country’s
installed capacity. Together, the coal plants already account for as
much as 36% of the emissions from the energy sector.

However, the government currently has at least nine coal-fired plants
lined up for construction or expansion in the country: the 300 MW
expansion in Pagbilao, Quezon, 100 MW in Concepcion, Iloilo, 165 MW in
Iloilo City, 200 MW each in Naga and Toledo Cities in Cebu, 300 MW
expansion in Masinloc, Zambales, 300 MW in Olongapo, Zambales, 150 MW in
Sultan Kudarat, and 200 MW in Saranggani.