Palawan group sounds alarm on toxic pollutant in Malampaya waste water

An environmental group in Palawan has expressed concern over the levels of a toxic pollutant found in the waste water discharged by the Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power Project.

In a letter last month to the state-run Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), lawyer and Palawan NGO Network Inc. (PNNI) executive director Robert Chan wrote about the "excessive" phenol concentrations expelled by the gas field off the Palawan coast.

“Our network discovered from the lab results...that the amount of Phenols from the project was not only excessive under the old standard (DAO 35 Ss 1990), they were consistently excessive even when they changed to a new standard (DAO 2016-08),” he wrote, presenting recent lab analyses from the Palawan Sectoral Monitoring Team (PSMT).

The PSMT is a multi-sectoral body composed of representatives from the PCSD, the Department of Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Philippine Coast Guard, local government units, and the PNNI.

Dilution

Phenol is defined by the US' National Institutes of Health as a "highly toxic" and corrosive compound used for a variety of purposes. The US Environmental Protection Agency lists it as one of the "priority" toxic pollutants it regulates in accordance with its Clean Water Act.

In his letter, Chan highlighted two separate readings showing phenol concentration levels in Malampaya’s open drain caisson (ODC) at 72.32 mg/L and 48.66 mg/L.

Both lab results were confirmed by PCSD project development officer Jesus Bream, who reported on the second lab result last March 8, 2017.

Former project engineer Dr. Gabriel Pamintuan Jr., however, pointed out that the readings were of the waste water while it was still in the caisson.

“They haven’t been thrown into the sea yet. [They’re] contained,” he said.

Pamintuan, an environment scientist and a mining and petroleum engineer, said that Malampaya produces a small amount of waste water every time natural gas and oil are combined. “This waste water contains several contaminants including phenol,” he said, referring to the compound as a toxic substance.

“Caissons pump the water out. If the water is clean, it will be thrown into the sea. If contaminated water is thrown, and if [the sea’s] volume is ‘forever’, the contaminant will be diluted. The level of phenol concentration [in the sea] will go down because of the volume of the water,” said Pamintuan.

He added, however, that he was not sure how Malampaya disposes of its phenol-contaminated water.

In the second PSMT lab result, the phenol level in the seawater or marine outfall—an off-shore structure that carries treated waste water from land to sea—was measured at less than 0.01 mg/L.

According to the DENR's Administrative Order of 2016-08, the phenol concentration standard for Class SD waters (navigable waters) is 0.5 mg/L.

Malampaya

Eighty kilometers off the Palawan coast, the Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power Project draws natural gas from beneath Philippine waters.

A joint venture of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Shell Philippines and partners including Chevron Malampaya LLC and the PNOC Exploration Corporation, Malampaya provides fuel to three natural gas stations.

But environment groups such as Chan's are not pleased with the waste it expels.

“We've been questioning Malampaya’s phenol concentrations since 2005,” Chan said in a phone interview on August 14. “We have been issuing verbal complaints during every PSMT meeting, because Malampaya has always been exceeding [the limit]. We want to file a notice of violation for all the years they have exceeded.”

Chan, who is also an environment lawyer, has been monitoring Malampaya waste water phenol concentrations with the PSMT.

According to Chan, the PSMT aims to monitor all of the Malampaya project’s environmental effects.

“One of [our tasks] is monitoring the effluent discharges of phenol-contaminated water in the project’s drilling platform,” he said in a text message.

Chan's letter was discussed at the most recent meeting of the PCSD last August 31.

“His letter was transmitted to the Environmental Management Bureau with an accompanying PCSD letter asking their action on Palawan Sectoral Monitoring team’s recommendation for issuance of notice of violation to SPEX (Shell Philippines Exploration) on account on phenol exceedances,” PSMT team leader and concurrent PCSD staff director for planning Josephine Matulac told GMA News Online in a text message.

Matulac added that past lab analyses showed that there was a time that phenol concentrations from the Malampaya project “spiked” up to 200 mg/L.

“In other countries, phenols aren’t parameters of water pollution. But there is a [phenol] regulation from the DENR. So we have to do something about it,” Matulac said, in a phone interview on August 15.

In its official statement, Shell Philippines said: “The Malampaya natural gas project is coordinating closely with the DENR, the DOE and the Petroleum Association of the Philippines for the local offshore industry to have water quality standards that are in line with prevailing international practice.”

Effects on marine life

In a 2015 study, scientists from the Federal University of São Carlos  in São Paolo, Brazil concluded that phenol can cause "significant damage" to marine life.

Studying different species, including channel catfish and pacu, they found that a 96-hour exposure to 1.5 mg/L of phenol can “provoke several injuries to fish,” citing growth impairment, accumulation of phenol in the fish’s body, and destructive effects to the fish’s DNA.

“In conclusion, phenol contaminated water is associated with many physiological changes of aquatic organisms, such as fish, therefore deserving the attention regarding the ecological consequences and impact,” the study said.

But the Brazilian study only focuses on the effects of phenol in high amounts and in controlled environments.

“In laboratory experiments, long and constant exposure to higher concentrations have varying effects on different organisms,” Marianne Saniano, a marine scientist from Oceana Philippines, told GMA News Online.

She added that damage to fish depends on the phenol concentration level and the life stage of the fish. “Juveniles may experience growth rate reductions when exposed to high amounts of phenol. Older fish may also experience respiratory distress such as suffocation, reduced balance and buoyancy,” she said.

In addition, phenols' toxicity seems to increase the higher you go up the marine ecosystem's food pyramid.

“Phenols can cause cellular damage in the digestive tract of clams, decreased chlorophyll content in algae, slower growth rates in some organisms,” she said.

Just like Pamintuan, Saniano believes that the gravity of phenol toxicity depends on its levels in the open sea.

Risk of exposure

Pamintuan notes that the Malampaya field is very far from land, which makes the possibility of human contact with phenol very unlikely.

However, he added, the dilution of phenol in water already signifies contamination. “Exposure to a potential hazard such as phenol becomes a risk. You [should] isolate it, dilute it in the sea, or treat it [in a land-based treatment plant]. The longer you get exposed to phenol, the risk gets higher.” — BM, GMA News