THE provincial board of Sorsogon has voted to make the province coal-free.
This after the board approved Provincial Resolution 323-2017, which declared Sorsogon as an environment friendly and clean-energy province. The resolution proclaimed that all government offices in the province shall not issue any permit, authorization, endorsement or support for the development of coal-fired power plants within Sorsogon, citing the hazardous effects of coal to both the environment and the health of its residents.
Through this resolution, the provincial government of Sorsogon shall “strive to develop and utilize clean and renewable energy to support energy growth.” The province already hosts the 140-megawatt Bacon-Manito geothermal project of the Lopez-led Energy Development Corp.
Its provincial capital, Sorsogon City, confirmed its own support for this initiative through Resolution 384, Series of 2017, authored by City Councilor Edwin A. Divina. The city resolution, approved last December 8, committed the city as a “clean-energy city free of coal-fired power plants.”
Frequently hit by strong typhoons and storm surges, the city recognizes its vulnerability to the effects of climate change. It said the resolution is aligned with the city’s initiatives on climate-change adaptation and mitigation, which includes its Climate Change Project, done with the help of the United Nations Human Settlements Program or UN Habitat.