After Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) strong pledge and the resignation statement of Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Deputy Minister Thomas Chan (詹順貴), the environmental impact assessment (EIA) mechanism was damaged by holding a third EIA meeting within two weeks to discuss CPC Corp, Taiwan’s third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Taoyuan’s Guantang Industrial Park.
The proposal passed an EIA review on Oct. 8 after a sufficient number of assembly members finally showed up. This means that, after having existed in this coastal region for 7,600 years, the algal reef ecosystem near the construction site in Guanyin District’s (觀音) Datan Borough (大潭) faces a huge challenge.
The plenary meeting was held to announce the passage of the assessment, not to review it, because Lai had already announced the result in his pledge more than a month earlier and at a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan on Oct. 5.
Not only are the reefs threatened, the government has lost all credibility and the EIA mechanism has been destroyed.
There are many cases and EIAs are to be sped up. Under the existing mechanism, cases are mostly be reviewed by experts divided into groups, with their decisions submitted to an assembly for finalization. After many years of controversy during the group reviews of the LNG terminal, the group in July rejected it.
Although the independent experts did not change their minds, just three months later the government reversed the decision at the assembly, which should have confirmed the group’s conclusion.
After Lai gave administrative guidance by pledging publicly that the EIA for the terminal would be passed by last month, the independent experts withdrew from the first assembly meeting in a collective show of protest.
The government held a second and third assembly. The second failed for lack of a quorum and the third assembly barely attracted enough members to ram through approval in a 7-2 vote.
Clearly, the government interfered with the professional review process in an extremely ugly manner.
After Lai made his statement, the seven government-appointed assembly members dared not disobey, so it still has to be clarified whether they should have been excluded from the vote. However, whether appointed members should be excluded from the vote was not discussed at the assembly meeting, and the government pressure was palpable.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) used to be environmentally friendly and always protested the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) approach to development, which involved closed-door dealmaking while ignoring expertise and public opinion.
Voters have now seen through the DPP, which has contradicted itself since its return to power in 2016. No wonder the party’s support rate continues to slide.
There are more examples of how the DPP contradicts itself. During a visit to Datan in 2013, when Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was president, then-presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote that “algal reefs are forever,” while DPP Taoyuan mayor-to-be Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) vowed during his campaign that he would safeguard the reefs.
However, faced with Lai’s ruthless insistence having his way, the party has lost credibility, its political promises have become mere slogans and its so-called humble attitude has vanished.
In addition to breaking the DPP’s promises, most unacceptably, Lai is using the policy to build a nuclear-free homeland and reduce carbon emissions as an excuse to damage the reefs. Obviously, the policies aim to avoid a nuclear crisis while lowering carbon emissions, and the once-proposed Shenao power plant in New Taipei City was completely unnecessary.
However, Lai said that the LNG terminal had to be approved if the Shenao plan was to be shelved.
In terms of site selection for the LNG terminal, the arrogant CPC completely ignored other possibilities, such as the Port of Taipei, Port of Linkou (林口) or floating LNG terminals. As a result, it has no alternative but to build the terminal off Guantang Industrial Park, an area with rich algal reefs.
Administrative idleness and bad policy have led to the collapse of the EIA mechanism, and Lai and CPC are to blame.
With his background as an environmental lawyer — a fighter in environmental litigation — Chan faced high expectations and doubts when he became EPA deputy minister. However, it was not a smooth ride.
He urged the government to pull back before it was too late by issuing a public resignation statement, but the government ignored public anger and approved the proposal.
It was a demonstration of the government and the DPP’s deterioration.
Tsai Chung-yueh is deputy chief executive of Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan.Translated by Eddy Chang
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