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Editorial: `Not too proud to beg' is no solution

On Thursday President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said he'd get down on his hands and knees to beg, if that was what it needed, to speed up the process of environmental impact assessments (EIA) conducted on local companies' projects. Chen went on to blame a local EIA committee's inefficiency and over-stringent environmental standards for Quanta Display's (廣輝電子) inability to begin production on schedule.

Chen may have intended to demonstrate his commitment to make economic development a top priority and reverse the impression that his administration is anti-business because of its environmental protection stance. After all, the administration's handling of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant fiasco did enrage many moderate voters and aggravated the outflow of business enterprises.

Chen's heart may be in the right place, but unfortunately, the manner in which he chose to get his message across was entirely inappropriate. As a licensed attorney, Chen needs no reminder there is something called due process under which wrongs must be corrected through established legal mechanisms, rather than through informal short-cuts.

Not every firm's chairman is privileged enough, as is the case of Quanta chairman Barry Lam (林百里), to be able to blast the EIA committee reviewing his company in the Economic Development Advisory Conference, thereby winning a quick helping hand from Chen.

It would have been proper -- and fairer -- had Chen simply instructed the relevant government units to improve administrative efficiency and establish standardized procedures for EIAs without referring to a specific cases. Now that Chen has specifically named Quanta as a victim of inefficiency and hyper-critical demands, how can there be any resolution except speedy approval by the EIA committee? What if justifications exist for the delay in the EIA on Quanta's plants? Quanta would be let through wrongfully and Chen would be guilty of meddling.

Chen's little show Thursday has been widely interpreted as a sign that the administration is willing to sacrifice the environment for the economy. While the DPP legislative caucus Secretary-General Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯) openly denied such speculation yesterday, many officials are likely to back down on their enforcement of legitimate environmental protection standards in the future -- in their eagerness to please the president.

On the other hand, it is not news that the EIA system has problems. Even the head of the Environmental Protection Administration, Hau Lung-ping (郝龍斌), has admitted there are problems with administrative efficiency and enforcement.

It is also true that, in the case of Quanta Display, the waste water biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) level required by the local EIA committee, 20 mg/l, appears stringent in comparison with the 30 mg/l level mandated by the government and the regulations applied in other countries such as the US (60 mg/l) and Japan (30 to 65 mg/l). The argument that the high pollution level in the lake near the plant demanded a more stringent level may have its merits. However, it seems reasonable to suggest that if the local pollution level is indeed so high, all nearby plants should be made to comply with this stringent standard, not just new plants.

If the EIA system has flaws, then these flaws need to be carefully thought through and rectified. And that is a process to which Chen's histrionics contribute nothing at all.
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