To service the Shenao Power Plant, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) intends to spend NT$58 billion to build a 1,700m long port for unloading coal in Wanghaihsiang Bay (
Although an environmental assessment has been conducted on Taipower's plan, there are still many questions surrounding the case.
The plan also came under fierce attack at a public meeting held in the area not long ago.
The northeast coast is extremely sensitive in terms of its scenery and its ecological resources and Taipower's NT$50 billion (US$1.5 billion) proposal for the Shenao port provides little in the way of administrative procedures to prevent damage to the area's environment.
According to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), development plans should give appropriate consideration to local opinion.
That is why I was shocked when Taipower's extremely sketchy environmental impact report received first-stage approval virtually without any input from locally elected representatives or community leaders.
The approval raises questions about flaws in the administrative decision-making process, legal compliance, whether environmental assessment experts even went to the proposed site to investigate and about the lack of consultation with local experts, academics and civic groups.
Furthermore, since the proposed location for the port is not in an urban area, Ministry of the Interior regulations require that permission for coastal development must obtained, raising questions about whether Taipower applied for its permit in accordance with the law.
With the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, states must pay careful attention to greenhouse gas emissions and concentrate on producing energy in an environmentally responsible manner.
The northeastern part of Taiwan is already home to the Shenao and Waimushan power plants and the second and fourth nuclear power stations.
The Shenao facility is bucking the global trend of focusing on renewable and replaceable energy sources by continuing to expand its coal-fired power plant, which burns approximately 2 million tonnes of coal annually and produces a great amount of pollution.
With one port for every 4km to 6km of coastline, Taiwan already has too many ports. Within 3km to 5km of Shenao, there are three other fishing ports -- Changtanlee (
Communities near the Shenao plant that have already endured 50 years of pollution are doubtful of the necessity of squeezing in another coal ash pond and unloading dock.
According to the current plan, the outer levies of the loading dock will be nearly 2km long. This is bound to further reduce the already poor water quality around Wanghaihsiang.
Summer and winter winds and tides would make it hard to stop the pollution in the area from circulating back to the waters off Keelung and Rueifang.
The polluted water would also harm the marine life at the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology, which is under construction.
Environmental experts say the light fishing industry in the area would suffer if the Shenao plant is built.
The waters off Wanghai-hsiang and Shenao Bay contain Taiwan's largest stocks of anchovy and cuttlefish and are also an important breeding ground for sword tip squid and reef squid.
Under Taipower's plan, shipping lanes for the coal ships will be dredged, which would doubtlessly damage coral reefs and the marine shelf.
Once such habitat is damaged, the survival of the fishing industry would be threatened.
The dredging would also destroy Chaoching Park (潮竟公園) and its beautiful, hard-to-replace coral reefs, which divers refer to as their "secret underground gardens."
Leaving aside the issue of whether the plant's air pollution can be effectively controlled, its 250m chimneys -- about 83 floors high -- and six 72m coal storage silos -- about 24 floors high -- would no doubt destroy the view from houses built along the coast and would also reduce the attractiveness of nearby Chaoching Park, Chiufen (九份) and Chinkuashi (金瓜石).
The beauty of the northeastern coast is important to many people in Taiwan, not just those who live in the area.
Still, the government has not asked for input to maintain its attractiveness from such obvious sources as National Taiwan Ocean University, Pisha Harbor (碧沙港) and the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology.
The Shenao coal facility is not a simple case of planning for and building a small port.
It is fraught with problems and will have a far-reaching environmental impact.
I ask the government to take a good look at this major project, which will affect the nation's sustainable development.
I hope that the dense development of the northeast coast will leave fishery resources and and secret underground gardens intact for future generations.
Chiau Wen-yan is a professor and director of the Institute of Marine Resource Management at National Taiwan Ocean University.
Translated by Jason Cox and Perry Svensson
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under