Philippines: Farmers File Case To Stop Construction Of Hydro Power Plant

Philippines: Farmers File Case To Stop Construction Of Hydro Power Plant

Farmers living along the river in Aringay and a non-government organization
have filed a case at the Regional Trial Court, Branch 31 here seeking a
'temporary environmental protection order' (Tepo) to stop the ongoing
construction of a P240 million hydro power plant in Barangay Halog East,
Tubao town.

The farmers and Aringay Development Coordinating Team represented by their
counsel, Lawyer Charlie Juloya, alleged that the management of Tubao
Mini-Hydro Electric Power Corporation (TMHEC), violated several
environmental laws in constructing the project that would endanger the lives
of the residents along the river.

"We filed the case because farmers and residents of Aringay were not
consulted about the project, "Juloya said. "There are violations in the
'environmental compliance certificate' (ECC). Instead of a 10-meter high
diversion run-of-river, the project became a 25-meters high impounding dam
and instead of a 1.5 megawatt it is now designed for a 3-megawatt
hydro-power plant," Juloya said.

Juloya said the project will cause flooding and would affect around 6,000
farmers because it will hold waters for the irrigation of vast farm lands in
the second district of La Union.

The complainant also alleged that the project is being built near an
earthquake fault line and it lacked the 'environmental impact assessment'
needed before its construction.

However, TMHEC, represented by Dr. Rafael Valdez, denied all the allegations
citing that they have complied with all the requirements before the start of
the construction of the project, a public, private partnership.

Valdez clarified that the project's description cited in the ECC issued on
June 1, 2015 is a 1.5 megawatt hydro-power plant consisting of a
run-of-river diversion dam, desilting basin, powerhouse, conveyance
structure, single type 1.5 turbine and other support facilities.

The height of the structure is about 20 meters and not 25 meters.

"All the volume of water that will be impounded in the dam will be used
during start-up operation and all the water shall go out of the dam and into
the river stream in the same quantity and same form of substance. There
could be no adverse effect to irrigation waters and no adverse effect to the
farmers," Valdez said in his reply to the complaint.

Valdez added that the project will not cause danger because there were
geology, hydrology, flood and earthquake analysis conducted because they are
primary requirements before it (project) could be approved by the Department
of Energy.

Valdez stated that the issuance of the ECC will show that all the
requirements for the project were complied including the environmental
impact assessment. Jun Elias/Northbound Philippines News

"The project will be beneficial to the residents of La Union because it will
provide cheaper electricity, jobs,among others," Valdez said.

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Link to Original Article:
http://northboundasia.com/2017/01/21/farmers-file-case-stop-construction-hyd
ro-power-plant/#.WIRbkBt9600

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com