This evening, I came across this article in Monga Bay which almost broke my heart. The excerpt is taken from HERE and after reading it, please visit the site to see the many spectacular photos and do the needful to voice your concerns.
Excerpt from Monga Bay:
With the world's eyes on the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, many are beginning to ponder the rightness of not just America's, but the world's dependence on fossil fuels. Yet large-scale fossil-fuel energy projects continue to march ahead, including one in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo to build a 300 MW coal plant, which has come under fierce opposition from locals (already the project has been forced to move locations twice). The newest proposal will build the coal plant, as photos below reveal, on an undeveloped beach overlooking the Coral Triangle, one of the world's most biodiverse marine environments, with transmission lines likely running through nearby pristine rainforest that are home to several endangered species, including orangutans and Bornean rhinos.
A group of NGOs that oppose the coal plant, known as Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-power the Future), warn that the plant will come with a host of environmental problems, including discharges of chlorine and sulfates into the ocean, sulfur dioxide emissions that could cause acid rain, thermal pollution, and the need for new transmission lines, infrastructure, and cargo to carry coal from mines south in Kalimantan. Green SURF has recently conducted an energy audit that showed Sabah has the capacity to develop cost-competitive power needs from a variety of other non-fossil fuel options, including palm oil biomass, solar, and hydrological.
Click HERE for the rest of the entry and to view the amazing pristine beauty of the area which might be lost!
For further reading:
Analysis shows Borneo can say "No" to coal power - written by Jeremy Hance
Coal plant could damage rainforest reserves, coral reefs, palm oil plantations in Malaysian Borneo - written by Rhett A. Butler
Where two worlds collide: visiting Tabin Wildlife Reserve - written by Jeremy Hance
Anonymous Thanks for posting such an informative article!