Pnoc-edc To Drill In Natural Park; Negros Plant Closed

摘要

According to Cebu Daily News, on May 21 the Negros Occidental provincial board approved the entry of PNOC-EDC, the Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corporation, into the restricted area of Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park in Barangay Mailum, Bago City, to drill geothermal wells. Responding to project protestors, including Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, the provincial board set strict conditions to minimize environmental damage in the park's buffer zone. All conditions proposed by board members were adopted in the final resolution approved by the board.rnThe conditions include creation of an oversight and compliance committee to monitor operations within the buffer zone; prioritization of Negros-based electrical cooperatives for the geothermal electricity; limiting the project to 12.5 hectares of the 169-hectare buffer zone; planting 100 trees for every tree cut down; lowering power rates in Negros Occidental; satellite imaging of the buffer zone each quarter; and no trees cut on the endangered species list. PNOC-EDC entry into the buffer zone is endorsed by the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, and Energy, and by the Protected Area Management Board.