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<DIV align=center><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica" size=6><B>The Heavy Oil Power
Deal<BR></FONT><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica" size=5>A Dark Cloud over East
Timor’s Bright Future<BR><BR></B></FONT><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>By
Lee Bell BA MA (ESD), on behalf of the National Toxics Network (Inc), </FONT><A
href="http://www.ntn.org.au/" eudora="autourl"><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica"
color=#0000ff size=3>www.ntn.org.au</A> </FONT><FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>info@ntn.org.au<BR><B>March
2009<BR><BR></B></FONT></DIV>The complete 16-page report can be downloaded from
<A href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Power/NTNHeavyOilMar09.pdf"
eudora="autourl">http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Power/NTNHeavyOilMar09.pdf</A>.
<BR>For more information about the heavy oil project, see <A
href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Power/08PowerPlant.htm"
eudora="autourl">http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Power/08PowerPlant.htm</A>.<BR><BR>The
following is from the Introduction and Conclusion sections:<BR><BR><FONT
size=3><B>Introduction<BR><BR>National Toxics Network </B>(NTN) is a NGO
(non-government organisation) network working for pollution reduction,
protection of environmental health and environmental justice for all. As the
Australian focal point for the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN),
NTN works towards the full implementation of the Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) 2001 and other relevant international and
regional chemical treaties. NTN has a particular focus on children’s
environmental health.<BR><BR>The recent announcements by the Government of
Timor-Leste regarding plans to ‘electrify the nation’ with a national power grid
and 2 to 3 power generation plants are of interest to NTN. While the objective
of providing reticulated electricity to all population centres in Timor–Leste is
commendable, (and indeed essential for sustainable development) the proposed
energy generation technology is a major step backward for the world’s newest
nation.<BR><BR>The announcement that the electrification of Timor-Leste would be
powered by up to three heavy oil power plants has major environmental and
economic implications for current and future generations in Timor-Leste. This
report outlines the key environmental impacts that can be expected from the
operation of heavy oil power burners and questions the economic logic of
creating an energy distribution system dependent on foreign supplies of heavily
polluting residual fuel oil.<BR><BR>NTN has a focus on environmental issues
which involve persistent organic pollutants (POP’s) which are now
internationally recognised as some of the most toxic and damaging chemicals
which pollute our global environment. Heavy Oil power plants are renowned for
their high levels of air pollution including the release of extremely toxic PCDD
and PCDF, otherwise known as dioxin and furans. These chemicals are known to
deposit in soils for kilometres around the emission source (i.e., the power
plants) as well as drifting through the atmosphere for thousands of kilometres
to contaminate other countries. The transboundary nature of the pollution
impacts from dioxin has led to global restrictions on activities which produce
them.<BR><BR>In addition to dioxin contamination, heavy oil power plants
contribute heavily to atmospheric acidification, heavy metal contamination and a
significant risk to marine and coastal environments due to oil contamination of
cooling water effluent discharge. Moreover as developed countries race to
de-carbonise their economies in the face of accelerating climate change,
Timor-Leste will be committed to decades of energy production with one of the
highest carbon footprints. While heavy oil may currently appear to be a ‘cheap’
fuel for energy production, international carbon accounting and trading may soon
place a heavy price tag on such dirty fuel.<BR><BR>NTN would urge the government
of Timor-Leste to seriously reconsider their technology choice for their
national energy generation needs. The pressing issues of the unavoidable
pollution impacts, carbon generation and economic pitfalls of heavy oil based
power plants, must be addressed.<BR><BR>It has been reported that considerable
controversy surrounds the tendering and contractual arrangements between the
Government of Timor Leste and the successful tenders for the project to supply
energy production and a national power grid for Timor Leste. These issues fall
outside of the scope of this report except in instances where the tender
documents supplied by the Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company Ltd
(CNICC) address matters that have environmental impacts. This report addresses
the key features of environmental impacts arising from heavy oil based power
plants and examines some of the claims raised by the Chinese
engineers.<BR><BR>Pollution associated with a national economy dependent on
heavy oil energy is not necessarily limited to point source emissions from
stacks and effluent releases. There is a very real risk that tanker transport of
heavy oil can result in spills and accidents causing long term environmental
impacts and secondary economic impacts upon tourism and commercial fishing. The
recent spill of heavy oil by the container freighter Pacific Voyager in south
east Queensland is a case in point.<BR><BR>…<BR><B>Conclusion<BR><BR></B>The
current proposal to establish 180MW of heavy oil-fired power generation in
Timor-Leste is environmentally unacceptable and carries many hidden costs.. The
proposal is fraught with dangers for the population and government. It is clear
that what is being offered are old and polluting power units that are being
phased out in the rest of the world due to their high service costs, high
emission levels and extremely high GHG intensity.<BR>The fuel for the power
plants is essentially hazardous waste from oil refining that contains high
levels of PAH’s sulphur, vanadium and nickel. Combusting these materials along
with the oil will generate atmospheric contamination that includes dioxins and
furans. Any spill of these materials during delivery of the fuel could have very
serious long-term impacts on the environment, fishing and tourism industry of
Timor-Leste.<BR><BR>The proposal by the Chinese Nuclear Industry 22<SUP>nd</SUP>
Construction Company, Ltd contains very little information on environmental
management of the proposal and no data on the emissions that will be expected
from the power plants. Similarly there is virtually no information of fate of
toxic ash and other solid wastes that will arise from the power
plant.<BR><BR>This proposal should be subject to an immediate and thorough
Environmental Impact Assessment that fully investigates any potential impacts
and their consequences for Timor-Leste. It would also be appropriate to reopen
the tender process and to allow for proposals that use fuels other than heavy
oil (including renewable energy proposals) to bid for the contract.<BR><BR>NTN
strongly urges the Government of Timor-Leste to halt this process and reconsider
alternative energy sources for their people and to avoid decades of commitment
to polluting old technology that other countries are already phasing out.
<BR><BR></FONT><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>***********************************************************<BR>Charles
Scheiner<BR>La'o Hamutuk (The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring
and Analysis)<BR>P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste (East
Timor)<BR>Telephone: +670-3325013 or +670-734-0965 mobile<BR>email:
cscheiner@igc.org website: <A
href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/"
eudora="autourl">http://www.laohamutuk.org</A> skype:
cscheiner<BR><BR></P></BODY></HTML>