IT’S a good thing that the provincial board of Negros Occidental has decided to endorse the expansion of the geothermal fields in Bago City.

The Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) has been courting the support of all sectors in Negros Occidental to endorse its entry in the buffer zone of Mt. Kanlaon so it can dig more wells and increase the capacity of the geothermal power plant.

The PNOC-EDC geothermal power plant was supposed to produce 49MW, but presently it can only churn out 4-5MW.

Geothermal power plants need steam to produce electricity and PNOC-EDC is looking for additional wells inside the buffer zone to keep the plant running and ease the power crisis gripping Western Visayas.

Rotating brownouts certainly have negative impact. For instance, the power crisis has resulted in rotating brownouts in Negros and Panay. The x-ray machines of the new airport in Silay City, which are vital to the facility’s security, broke down because of incessant power outages.

The only remaining oppositors to the PNOC-EDC expansion are the Catholic Church and environmentalists who fear that the Kanlaon ecology will be disturbed by the project.

As a safeguard, the provincial board made the company commit that the environment will be protected.

And I believe that PNOC-EDC will keep its part of the bargain because trees and the environment are vital to the existence of steam wells. To create steam, we need water and somehow the trees will help sustain the water deposits needed to keep the geothermal plant running for decades.

The church and the environmentalists need not fear because PNOC experts surely know what they are doing. Rather, our priests should be concerned with the power crisis and its social costs.

Imagine businesses fleeing the region because of brownouts and expensive power resulting in unemployment. The jobless will naturally resort to crime just to survive. This situation shows how unfounded fears will cost us more in the long run.

Balingag

The position of environmentalists in Negros Occidental is very odd compared to the stance of their cousins here in Panay.

The so-called Responsible(?) Ilonggos for Sustainable Energy is pushing for the establishment of more renewable sources of energy but their pals across the strait are saying otherwise.

In Hiligaynon, balingag.

I wonder how Archbishop Lagdameo can reconcile his position with Msgr. Navarra of Bacolod City?

Negrenses are now working to solve the power problem by walking their talk. RISE, on the other hand, has wasted gallons of saliva but they have yet to show their own investors in renewable sources of power in Panay.

Gruesome

The twin massacres in Laguna province over the weekend show the kind of morality some people have nowadays.

Methinks that our priests should pray and focus on their ministry of nurturing our souls instead of wallowing too much in secular matters.

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