By Lyn V. Ramo
Northern Dispatch
Posted by (Bulatlat.com)

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The provincial board here, 246 kms. north of Manila, supported the resolution passed by its Bulacan counterpart opposing House Bill 4631 that seeks to revive the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant (BNPP) in Morong.

In April, the Bulacan legislators furnished the local board a copy of Resolution No. 06-S’09 dated March 23, for its information. The Benguet board, in its meeting Monday approved on second reading its own resolution.

The board found the request of support meritorious because the Bataan nuclear plant is defective, obsolete and its operation may pose great risks to the health and lives of the people and the environment.

“Reviving the BNPP is no assurance in addressing the power-supply shortage of the country,” the Benguet legislators said in the resolution of support. They added, “instead, the money intended for this project should be used for the construction of mini-hydro and solar power projects, which are beneficial to the community.”

Early this year, Congressman Mark O. Cojuangco of the 5th District of Pangasinan introduced the house bill that sought to re-commission the BNPP.

Cojuangco’s bill was deferred after Albay Representative Edcel Lagman, Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, and Akbayan party list Representative Risa Hontiveros filed another bill that mandates the National Power Corporation (NPC) to “conduct and complete a technical, economic, environmental, and financial feasibility study comparing technology options for electricity generation,” to which Cojuangco yielded.

Cojuangco’s bill previously called for the “rehabilitation, re-commissioning, and commercial operation” of the facility.

House Bill No. 4631 now seeks for the “immediate implementation of a validation process, which satisfies internationally accepted norms and culminates in either the immediate rehabilitation and commercial operation or the immediate permanent closure and salvage value recovery of the BNPP.

The BNPP construction started in 1976 and was finished in 1984 during the term of then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos. Costing about $2.3 billion, it is said to be the costliest nuclear plant in the world at that time. It was never fuelled due to defects in its design. Besides, protests mounted from its conception up to its completion.

In another resolution, the Benguet board also supported the Negros Occidental resolution that opposed the P1.14 increase in energy costs as proposed by the NPC.

ABC President Bernard Waclin introduced the two resolutions.

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