Environmentalists and oyster farmers from Changhua County’s coastal areas yesterday turned in an application for an environmental trust fund to purchase coastal wetlands in the area before a petrochemical company acquires them to build oil refineries.
“When we went to Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co [KPTC], asking them to help protect the [Indo-Pacific humpback] pink dolphins, they said it was the government’s job, but when we went to the government, the government told us it was KPTC that was responsible for taking care of them,” Taiwan Environmental Protection Union Changhua Division chairman Tsai Chia-yang (蔡嘉陽) told a crowd outside the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) before a ministry representative came out to take the application.
“It is time for us, the people, to stand up and act on our own,” Tsai said. “This action is not only to save pink dolphins, but also to maintain the integrity of the land, to protect the security of the food supply, and the sustainability of the environment.”
PHOTO: CHANGHUA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION UNION
KPTC, a subsidiary of of CPC, Taiwan Corp (台灣中油), plans to build refineries on coastal wetlands in Dacheng Township (大城), Changhua County, near the mouth of Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪).
The plan was met with opposition from environmentalists, local farmers and fishers, who worry that oil refineries would cause severe and irreversible damage to the local ecology — an area that serves as the habitat of the critically endangered humpback dolphin — and the traditional oyster-farming industry.
Chen Tsai-fa (陳再發), a 61-year-old oyster farmer, said the sea has provided abundant resources to locals, and worried that pollution brought by oil refineries would not only kill the humpback dolphin, but also destroy the land and the centuries-old way of life.
“I’ve been an oyster farmer all my life and I have a brother who is a fisherman,” he said. “Although my children are working elsewhere right now, they can always come home and become fishermen or oyster farmers if they lose their jobs.”
To prevent the construction of oil refineries, environmental groups launched a campaign to call on the public to purchase a share of the land for NT$119 per square meter.
The real estate price for the designated area published by the National Property Administration is NT$100 per square meter.
“In the initial phase, we’re aiming to buy 200 hectares of the most sensitive areas — but our goal is to purchase all 2,000 hectares KPTC plans to purchase from the National Property Administration,” Tsai said. “Since we launched the campaign in April, more than 31,000 people have expressed their willingness to purchase 1.5 million shares, enough to purchase 150 hectares.”
Environmental groups set up an environmental trust fund to pool their money and purchase the land.
Ministry official Huang Ching-mao (黃景茂) accepted the application from the activists and promised that the ministry would begin to review the application within a month.
Last night, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) told media that as there was no law concerning the creation of an environmental trust fund, the ministry would first have to determine which government agency would be in charge of the matter.
“The issue could be under the jurisdiction of the MOI, the Council of Agriculture, or the Environmental Protection Administration. We will call a cross-Cabinet meeting to determine who will be in charge of this issue,” Jiang said. “If the MOI is in charge, we will take care of the matter as soon as possible.”
“Personally, I’d be happy to see them [the activists], succeed,” he said.
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