Reducing the Environmental Impact of Constructing New Plants

To construct a refinery in the Philippines, we first had to obtain an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), and we submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
When constructing the refinery, we sought adequate dialogue with the Philippine government, local authorities and local citizens right from the planning stage. Efforts were made to construct a plant that would have a minimal impact on the environment. For example, the pier used to deliver sulfuric acid and methanol to the plant was made to circle around the coral reef, and wastewater outlets were also positioned to ensure the reef’s protection.
CBNC began the operation of the refinery in April 2005 based on a design certified by the DENR-EMB, and was followed by THPAL in October 2013. The refineries have set up Environmental Management Offices (EMO) that are primarily responsible in promoting environmental initiatives of the operations. Besides environmental surveys by the EMO, the environment is monitored by a team of representatives from organizations such as the DENR, local authorities and NGOs which carry out regular sampling of the air, water, flora and fauna. With this sort of environmental monitoring, we check that the construction and operation of plants do not have serious impacts on the ecosystem, while keeping environmental impacts from wastewater and other factors to a minimum.
Through our efforts in this area, CBNC and THPAL have been awarded the Philippines DENR-EMB’s Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award (PMIEA) eight times and two times, respectively between 2014 and 2022.