Greenpeace Mexico accused the Government of López Obrador of ‘excess pollution’ due to the emissions of the thermoelectric plant in Tula municipality in the state of Hidalgo
MÈXICO, April 23, 2021 (EFE).- Greenpeace Mexico flew this Thursday, April 22, the Earth Day hot air balloon with the message ” excess pollution ” against the power plant in Tula, Hidalgo municipality, located one hour away from the Mexican capital, which produces around 16 thousand premature deaths each year .
“This is a power plant that uses fuel oil, producing very large emissions of sulfur dioxide of black carbon and PM2.5 particles, which have very serious implications for human health and the environment, ” Greenpeace energy and climate change specialist Pablo Ramírez told Efe.
La Termoeléctrica de Tula es un ejemplo de los daños que ocasionan los combustibles fósiles.
— Greenpeace México (@greenpeacemx) April 22, 2021
Opera con un combustóleo que supera casi en 100% el límite máximo permitido de dióxido de azufre, lo cual provoca serios daños a la salud.
¡Firma! > https://t.co/T5lm1CY4cM pic.twitter.com/hKDdXfbegM
The Tula Thermoelectric Plant is an example of the damage caused by fossil fuels.
Greenpeace
It operates with fuel oil that exceeds almost 100% of the maximum allowed limit of sulfur dioxide, which causes serious damage to health.
The peaceful action took place on the morning of this Thursday, April 22, in a field in front of the Tula plant “Francisco Pérez Ríos” where the balloon was located with a warning label like those used in industrialized foods.
With this, they wanted to transmit that fuel oil with a 3.9 percent sulfur content by mass is burned in this place, exceeding the limit established by law, which is 2 percent.
In addition, Ramírez clarified that these facilities are only one example of the many that exist in the country, which is being left behind internationally in the energy transition due to the direction that the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador is taking in this matter.
This model said the specialist, who got on the hot air balloon, “cannot continue” and must be replaced by one that moves towards clean energy.
“What has happened with energy policy in electricity matters is that it has been subordinated to refining. The fuel oil is a residual fuel in the refining process. Currently we have a lot, a surplus that is not used practically anywhere in the world due to its high sulfur content , ” he added.
And precisely this Thursday, during his participation in the Climate Leaders Summit, a virtual conference organized by the White House in which 40 international leaders participate, López Obrador, assured that Mexico seeks to generate “clean and cheap” energy through hydroelectric plants but he defended the use of oil for the domestic market.
“Although we have discovered three large hydrocarbon deposits, the oil that we are discovering will basically be used to meet the demand for fuels in the domestic market and the practice of exporting crude will end,” he said.
For Greenpeace Mexico, these statements are not enough, and even less when facing the Tula thermoelectric plant, where the long path that the pollution smoke that comes out of one of its chimneys can be distinguished.
“Until it is embodied in an explicit ban on fuel oil, it will not serve to protect health and the environment. (…) We believe that the statement made by the president is a good sign but until this does not change at the end it will only be a speech ”, he pointed out.
The population of Tula – around 115 thousand people – lives day by day with pollution, not only from the thermoelectric plant but also from an oil refinery, several cement plants and receives sewage from Mexico City.
Likewise, the plant is located in the north of the megalopolis of the Valley of Mexico, which directly affects a huge number of the population, according to activists.
