I refer to the letter Coal-fired plant: Sandakan voters may swing .

A 1400MW coal-fired power plant sited in Port Dickson will change the atmospheric conditions in Klang Valley once it is in operation come this July.

Despite the technological advancement through use of Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD), Electronic Precipitator (ED), and low NOX burner, these won't mitigate the prospect of noxious gas and particles being emitted.

FGD typically traps sox particulates, hydrogen sulfides and gases through a liquid solution. These are corrosive, acidic and basic gas streams. They produce lots of polluted water so it is just converting one pollution form to another.

Essentially, ED attracts particles to the collection surface but only effective when particles are suspended in very hot gas.

Furthermore, potential coal sludge - either replanted or spillage - contains high levels of mercury, cadmium and lead that could lead to massive fish kill in rivers besides contaminate underground sources of drinking water.

Suspended particles vary in size and composition in the air and are deposited in the human respiratory system.

Coarse particles matter (PM10) and fine particles (PM2.5) are particles of health significance because they can travel pass the nasopharyngeal region of the upper human respiratory tract to reach the lower respiratory tract, namely the trachea bronchial region and the lungs.

WHO has tracked the annual burden of air pollution on population Daly (Daily Adjusted Life Years) worldwide. There are numerous international and local scientific journals (NCD, MOH Malaysia) which correlate air pollution with asthma admissions.

However, in Malaysia, patients seeking treatment at private hospitals and clinics are not part of the exposure data collected for air pollutant studies, distorting a significant view of localised air pollution.

Sporadic and ad hoc research coupled with DOE Continuous Static Air Monitoring Stations found only at limited locations could hardly attribute sources effectively. With such limitations, obviously the data cast is in doubt.

The onus is now on us residents to ensure a greater environmental awareness and community participation in protecting our surroundings. We can survive less on food and water but not air.

In US, a 500MW coal plant annually produces 10,000 tons of Nox, 100,000 tons of Sox, 3.7 mil tons of Co2, 500 tons of small particles, 720 tons of CO, 193 tons of sludge, 225lbs of arsenic, 4lbs of cadmium, 114 lbs of lead, trace uranium (the largest source of exposure) and 220 tons of hydrocarbons.

These emissions caused 23,600 deaths, 21,850 hospital admissions, 26,000 emergency rooms visit for asthma, 38,200 heart attacks, 16,200 chronic bronchitis cases, 554,000 asthma attacks and 3,186,000 lost work days.

Not to mention, coal-fired power plants emit particles that cause acid rain, smog and affect large areas downwind. In Louisiana, US, coal-fired power sources caused a high rate of illnesses including autism because of heavy metal concentration.

Some call such areas ‘Cancer Alley'.

Coal comes from the carboniferous forests of some 300 million years ago but today we are burning a record amount of fossil fuel on earth - a 300 million year record of the earth. The global climate change calls for reduction in carbon footprints by use of alternative renewable energy since benefits far exceed costs.

There should be greater focus on micro-generation to reduce transmission distances and put a carbon tax in place to pay for the real impact of fossil fuel bruning.

Coal may have its cost advantage but it poses a far greater risk to public health and inevitably TNB should focus their expertise on alternative fuel capacity-building, if not at least on sources of new fuel to energise the country needs.

Finding secure, safe and reliable sources of energy to power economic growth will be one of the great challenges of this century. The future of energy is about new forms of power and there must be incentives for ‘out of the box' thinking on energy.

The government must consider the options of localised small-time independent power producers harnessing solar, high-altitude wind, bio-energy etc, to produce energy at an unsubsidised real cost significantly below that of the least expensive coal-fired power plants, the current benchmark for the lowest cost source of power.

This small, alternative energy flux could just be the industry needed to pool interest groups in jointly propelling economic growth.