Green

THE recent opening and subsequent full operation of the Burgos windmill farm firmly puts Ilocos Norte in the map as the foremost host of renewable sources of energy in the country. The Burgos windmill farm is the second of its kind in the province following the breakthrough of the Bangui windmill farm in the last decade.

The national government’s thrust of refocusing from fossil fuel-powered energy sources to renewable ones is indeed a massive step towards environment protection and preservation. And with Ilocos Norte firmly in the forefront of these efforts, we may soon lessen our dependence on exported fuel for power.

However, Ilocos Norte residents—especially those in towns hosting these wind turbines—are hoping for more benefits from these projects. In the years that the first windmill farm was established in the province, all it had been good for was a tourist attraction. The promised lower power rates never came to fruition; the steady supply of electricity from this renewable source also left a lot to be desired.

Power transmission may have been complicated by breaking up the National Power Corp. as instead of distribution utilities dealing with a single entity, they now have to deal with at least three with another agency constantly looking over their shoulders.

As the province hosts these sprawling wind farms, we should also be given the concession of benefiting from the lower power rates from this sources. And as such, the local power distribution utility should try and make this happen along with provincial officials to show local residents that these giant windmills are not merely eye candies.

Green green

THE CONSTRUCTION of the newest windmill farm however was not without controversy. Allegations have been hurled that more than a handful of trees have been felled just to give way to its construction.

Environmentalists have also scored the ongoing construction of another windmill farm in Pagudpud for “carving out a mountain” just so wind turbines could be placed there. To top it all, residents in areas where transmission lines for the windmill farm were installed are up in arms for the risks that these installation would pose on them.

It could be a very unsavory demonstration of the ends justifying the means but would these actions come back to haunt us?

These renewable sources of energy would indeed go a long way in preserving and protecting our environment as we attempt to move away from dependence on fossil fuel for energy production. But if we have to destroy parts of the environment we wish to preserve and protect to install them, would not this be the height of hypocrisy?