THE Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air has released a new damning report against Australia’s plans to build a coal-fired power-plant in Lae, Morobe Province.
In a statement titled “Australian company’s coal plans are a pollution and health risk to local communities in Papua New Guinea”, the research organization says Air pollution is considered the largest environmental threat to human health.
While the rest of the world seeks to reduce dependence on coal power to meet the Paris Agreement Climate targets and ultimately phase out coal use by 2040, Papua New Guinea has plans to build its first coal-fired power plant with developments led by an Australian company, Mayur Resources.
The project has seen significant pushback from the local community, as the plant is expected to negatively impact the local community and its ecosystems.
The report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) quantifies one aspect of this: the health and economic impact of air pollution from the 52 megawatts (MW) proposed Lae Enviro Energy Park (EEP) coal-fired power plant, and the potential 200 MW expansion plan.
Coal is one of the major stationary emitters of pollutants such as Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulate matter, and Mercury — a contributing factor to countries seeking to minimize their dependence on the fuel.
The report found that under a 30-year operating life, the cumulative air pollutant emissions from the 52-MW Lae EEP coal plant would result in approximately 30 avoidable deaths, 890 years of life lost, and 5,900 work absences taken due to sickness.
If the company expands the coal-fired power plant to 200 MW, health impacts significantly increase to approximately 115 premature deaths, 3,500 years of lives lost, as well as 23,500 sick days off work.
Such health impacts result in healthcare spending and loss of economic productivity.
Over 30 years, the report estimates that the cost of long term exposure to air pollution from a 52 MW Lae EEP would be equivalent to 10.9 million Australian Dollars (AUD), or K25.5 million.
The cumulative economic cost of a 200 MW Lae EEP plant expanded complex totals AUD 43.1 million (PGK 101.4 million) — more than Papua New Guineaʼs entire GDP in 2020.
All of these health and economic impacts could be completely avoided if Mayur Resources coal-fired power plant is not built, concludes the report.
The Author of the report, Isabella Suarez adds: “The conversation in many developing countries must be around moving from coal-to-clean.
She says Papua New Guinea has the opportunity to avoid all of this and move straight into capitalizing on its renewable energy potential.
Meanwhile, Samantha Kuman, Advocacy Officer at the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) Inc, said the potential impacts of the Lae coal-fired power plant are not widely known in PNG because the public consultative process was hugely by-passed by Mayur Resources and the relevant state, provincial and district authorities.
She said this is a timely report which provides an expert analysis of the potential harm that can be inflicted on the city of Lae, its population and the surrounding districts and communities as well.
Dina Hopstad Rui, the Campaigns Director at Jubilee Australia, said this report serves as a reminder of the reckless behavior of many Australian extractive companies in PNG.
She said the world is moving away from coal, and an Australian company should not push it onto PNG.
“People in Australia don’t support coal in our own backyard ‒ 82% support a phase-out of coal fired power stations ‒ and we certainly don’t want to push it on our neighbors. ”
