Legislators, environmental protection groups and wildlife researchers yesterday called for a temporary halt in construction of a build-own-operate funeral facilities park in Miaoli County’s Houlong Township (後龍) initiated by the county government, saying it endangered protected leopard cats living in the area.
The funeral facilities park project — a 28-hectare park with a cemetery park, a cemetery tower, a crematorium and a funeral home near the hills in Houlong — was opened for public bidding in 2007 and the county government had signed a contract with the developer in the same year.
However, Democratic Progressive Party legislators Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) and Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) told a press conference yesterday that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project, passed in 2008, was flawed and should be done again.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Wu said four protected species of birds were mentioned in the ecological investigation of the project’s EIA report, while the more endangered species — the leopard cat, or Prionailurus bengalensis chinensis, which inhabit the area — was entirely left out without any assessment of the project’s possible negative impact on the species.
The Council of Agriculture had authorized National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) to conduct ecological research in the low-elevation mountains of the area in 2005, and has already observed leopard cats, Tien said.
“The county government should have known about the endangered species [in the area] by the time it submitted the EIA report in 2008, but failed to mention it,” she said.
Photo: Chen Hsin-jen, Taipei Times, courtesy of the Nantou Forest District Office
Showing several photographs of the cats taken by auto-detection cameras in the hillsides of Miaoli County, Chen Mei-ting (陳美汀), a researcher at NPUST’s Graduate Institute of Bioresources who specializes on the leopard cat, said that although records showed the species inhabits four counties, the habitat in Miaoli seems to have the most stable population.
The leopard inhabits low-elevation mountains, where the environment is often damaged by manmade infrastructure, Chen said, adding that the cats’ habitats in Maoli had already been sliced into many small areas isolated from one another.
“It is difficult to designate the area as a conservation area because it’s on private land,” said Kuan Li-hao (管立豪), director of the Forestry Bureau’s conservation division.
He added that the bureau had made efforts to designate nearby national forestland as protected areas for the conservation of the species.
The bureau has also filed paperwork to the local government and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), suggesting a temporary halt in construction, he added.
Yen Hsu-ming (顏旭明), a section chief at the EPA’s department of comprehensive planning, said that the agency does not have the authority to order the Miaoli County Government to halt construction, but it would file a request that the local government clarify whether there were flaws in the EIA process.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
NATIONAL DAY: The ‘Taiwan Dome’ would form the centerpiece of new efforts to bolster air defense and be modeled after Israel’s ‘Iron Dome,’ sources said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday pledged to strengthen the nation’s air defense capabilities and build a “T-Dome” system to create a safety net against growing military threats from China. “We will accelerate our building of the T-Dome, establish a rigorous air defense system in Taiwan with multi-layered defense, high-level detection and effective interception, and weave a safety net for Taiwan to protect the lives and property of citizens,” he said in his National Day address. In his keynote address marking the Republic of China’s (ROC) 114th anniversary, Lai said the lessons of World War II have taught nations worldwide “to ensure that