Pro-coal Atienza wasting time and energy

Greenpeace calls for immediate passage of Renewable Energy Bill

Manila, 28 August 2008–Greenpeace today slammed Secretary Lito
Atienza’s implicit support for a dirty coal plant in Iloilo despite
local opposition, and criticized the government’s two-faced energy
policy which continues to invest in coal even as the passage of
Renewable Energy bill remains in a limbo in the Senate.

“Secretary Atienza could be doing more to protect the environment
instead of promoting the interests of the coal industry. Coal plants
cause climate change. If Mr. Atienza, as he claims, is truly on the
side of sustainable development, he will not issue an ECC for the Iloilo
coal plant, or any other coal power project. If he is truly for
sustainable development, he should be joining the call for the immediate
passage of the Renewable Energy Bill by the Senate” said Greenpeace
Southeast Asia Campaign Manager Beau Baconguis.

“Not too long ago in Bali, before an international audience of
scientists and policy makers, Atienza called on world leaders to act
urgently to address the global threat of climate change which he said
will condemn the Philippines to poverty. Now he is singing an entirely
different tune. His motives for giving his all-out support for the
Iloilo coal project are extremely suspect. The secretary is either
ignorant, or he has concealed motivations that are stronger than his
sworn duty to protect the country’s ecosystems.”

Coal is the dirtiest, most carbon intensive of all fossil fuels.
Emitting 29 percent more carbon per unit of energy than oil and 80
percent more than gas, it is one of the leading contributors to climate
change. Burning coal also releases massive amounts of substances such
as mercury and arsenic that are toxic to human health and create acutely
detrimental effects on developing economies and hosting communities.

Greenpeace is campaigning to stop the expansion and construction of coal
plants and is instead advocating the massive uptake of renewable energy
in the country as part of the solution to stop climate change. Earlier
this month the environment group released the “Philippine Energy
Revolution” report which draws up the first ever action plan on how
renewable energy–not coal or nuclear–can become the country’s energy
backbone.

Greenpeace is an independent, global campaigning organization that acts
to change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the
environment, and to promote peace.