“The SMC coal plant is in Limay, Bataan. It’s a 4 x 150-MW circulating fluidized bed broiler,” the source said.

The source added San Miguel was negotiating with electric power cooperatives and other prospective buyers of Limay coal plant’s output. The plant is expected to be completed by 2016.

LCI Envi Corp., an environmental consultancy company, recently conducted an environmental impact study on the proposed Limay coal plant.

SMC Global is also pursuing the construction of a 300-MW coal plant in Mindanao to address the island’s power needs by late 2015.

The proposed Mindanao plant, which will be fueled by the company’s coal mines,  will also utilize the clean coal technology.

San Miguel, according to an industry source, will offer competitive rates to  electric cooperatives because of the cheaper fuel coming from the Daguma mines owned by the company.

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Originally posted in http://manilastandardtoday.com/

Jan. 16, 2013

We left Zapala after riding through the city for a while trying to get gas—most gas stations were out of it. It was a nice cool morning; the ride around the steppe mesas with their straight basalt tops was quite enjoyable. In many of the valleys, hidden away from the wind, we passed houses with their typical Lombardy poplars.

At a given point the nearly perfect cone of Volcán Lanín appeared at the distance. This is an emblematic mountain that gives its name to Lanín National Park. Both my brother and I know this area well because we fly fish here relatively frequently. Although you cannot guess it from far away, we know that Volcán Lanín has two very different faces. On the northern slope of the volcano there is a forest of Araucaria or Monkey-puzzle trees that extends onto the shores of Lake Tromen. Once you are there, you almost expect to see long-necked dinosaurs browsing on the monkey-puzzle leaves. From Lake Tromen emerges the Malleo River, a stream in which I have caught beautiful brown and rainbow trout with my favorite fly, the Elk Hair Caddis. The dense forest that covers the southern slope of Lanín is dominated by several species of southern beeches, some deciduous and some evergreen. The view of the snow-covered volcano from gorgeous Lake Paimún is unforgettable.

Approximately 150 kilometers from Zapala, route 40 comes down to the valley of the Collón Curá River and follows the stream for a while. We came across several guanacos that were grazing by the road. I had the chance to take a close look at a small Gauchito Gil shrine. Inside two little red-painted wood-made houses were several figurines of the gauchito wearing a light blue shirt, white bombacha pants, a chiripá—a piece of cloth that looks like, but it is not, an external diaper—and a red bandana over the shoulders tied at the front. The gauchito is represented with long hair, heavy moustaches, and holding boleadoras—a throwing weapon mainly used to trap animals. There were various objects inside the red huts including a maté gourd, cigarettes, candles, a plastic water bottle, and plastic red flowers.

We eventually crossed the Collón Curá and rode towards the man-made Lake Alicurá—created when a hydroelectric dam was built over the Limay River. As we were approaching Alicurá we noticed that we were driving towards what looked like low clouds that we assumed to be part of a storm. By the time we reached Alicurá it was clear that we were in the middle of a cloud of ashes from the eruption of the fissure in Chile. We had both heard about and seen pictures of the devastation caused by the eruption, but riding through the cloud of ashes miles away for the actual fissure was very powerful. We just could not believe what we were seeing.  The ground was covered by a whitish layer that looked like old snow. Trees, especially poplars, did not seem very healthy. The sun looked like a translucent circle on a grayish sky. After riding in the dirty air for a while I began to cough and felt an itch in my throat. We stopped to get gas at Confluencia, where the Traful River enters the Limay. The wind was blowing so much ash that it was difficult to see the hills on the other side of the river. South of Confluencia the road enters the “Enchanted Valley”, where the greenish blue Limay runs through a glacial carved ravine with striking rock formations pointing towards the sky. Groups of elegant Cordilleran Cypress (Austrocedrus chilensis) introduce a touch of green to the mainly yellowish mountains. Today, the Enchanted Valley seemed more enchanted than ever. The falling ash added an air of mystery to the mesmerizing scenery. By time we got to the city of San Carlos de Bariloche on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the sky was clear and the sun shining. We stopped at the Centro Cívico—the highly recognized landmark of Bariloche—to wait for my friend Sonia Fontenla, who will be our host for the next two or three days.

not quite asleep, but content

It’s definitely winter here. We’ve had snow off and on the past 3 weeks, some accumulation, but mostly just really cold! In Limay (our town, just outside of Paris), we are the same latitude as the state of Maine, so when the wind blows from the north… brrr!

the snow is so beautiful

Lily in her snowsuit

This past weekend we went down south to visit Guillaume’s grandmother. She lives in Monte de Marson, about an hour south of Bordeaux, a 700 km drive for us. If you want to know how many miles that is, I’ll let you do the conversion yourself!

Lily with her great-grandma

The weather down there was just beautiful: sunny and about 65F. On our way home, we ran into snow just north of Tours (2/3 of the way home), and instead of taking 3 hours to get home from there, it took about 16. The snow wasn’t much at all, but the traffic started getting really slow. [Well, let me clarify "not much at all": To all youse guys in PA, you probably wouldn't even noticed it had snowed; To all y'all in SC, you'd have run out to the grocery store for eggs, milk, and bread, and be home eating French Toast!] Just outside of Versailles, the traffic stopped completely. Paris rush-hour traffic blocking snow plows combined with semi trucks and icy hills just didn’t mix. After sitting on the freeway for 3 hours (9:30pm-12:30am), the police came and escorted us, and some other families with babies, to a nearby gymnasium to spend the night. Lily was super excited by all the bright lights in there, but we finally got her calmed down and asleep. So we were able to get some rest too, before going the last hour of our trip in the morning.

Well, Lily is awake from her nap, so this will be the end of my post. Hopefully I’ll be able to do this more often!

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Water level still above average, but weather has been magnific, very little wind and warm weather.  We have also caught our first browns in La Boca !! We changed our tackle also, from  using sinking lines in the very beginning of the season, we have changed to floating and floating with small sinking tips, it´s amazing to see this huge fish taking the flies almost in the surface.

We have also floated the river a couple of times and again, big trouts were there ! We have both broken our personal record of landlocked Brown trout, please check out this pics, I´m quite sure you will enjoy them!

>>> Un festival pour tous les jeunes publics , qui connaîtra avec le printemps sa 11 e édition

>>> Deux semaines de fête théâtrale, pour un rendez-vous culturel incontournable dans le Mantois et la Vallée de la Seine , accessible à tous, ouvert sur la découverte, l’échange et le métissage

>>> 16 spectacles venus de trois continents, déclinant toutes les formes des arts de la scène (théâtre, cirque, danse, conte, spectacle musical, théâtre d’ombre, dispositif théâtre-vidéo…)

>>> Plus de 80 représentations (en séances scolaires ou tout public) , 10 000 spectateurs attendus…

>>> Une vingtaine de structures et communes partenaires dans toute la Vallée de la Seine –et au-delà

>>> Une implication en profondeur des populations du bassin de vie à travers un important travail de médiation culturelle mené toute l’année autour de la manifestation

Cliquer sur l’affiche pour accéder au programme :

A peine 50,6% des votants se sont déplacés à Mantes la ville, à Mantes la jolie ils étaient 52,5%, autour de 55% à Buchelay et Magnanville et enfin 59% à Limay.

Souhaitons que les électeurs appelés à se déplacer à nouveau dimanche 16 mars seront plus nombreux.

Francos (festival des arts de la scène pour le jeune public)

s’invite dans le Mantois-Val de seine durant deux semaines : calendrier.

Rendez vous sur le site des Francos pour tous les détails.
Renseignements et réservations au : 01 30 33 13 11 (pendant la durée du festival).

Atractivos y refrescantes, los balnearios del Río Limay invitan a disfrutar de sus límpidas y encantadoras aguas, y de su gran oferta de actividades y entretenimientos.

Al sur de la ciudad de Neuquén se alza el Balneario Municipal, dotado de todos los elementos necesarios para vivir una excelente jornada de pic-nic, y extendiendo su profusa sombra.

Hacia el final de la Av. Olascoaga, y sobre el brazo más importante del Limay, el Balneario Río Grande presenta su cartelera activa para el día y la noche, destacándose su calidad en esparcimiento nocturno.

En la desembocadura de calle Gatica, recientemente organizado y emplazado en un marco agreste, el Balneario homónimo brinda completos servicios para que el día de camping en familia se desarrolle a pleno sol y playa, mientras los niños se entretienen en los juegos especialmente preparados para ellos.

El verano puede disfrutarse al máximo en la costa de Neuquén.