The top 10 environmental stories of last year, as voted by reporters covering environmental issues, will become important references for the implementation of environmental policy this year, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials said yesterday.
The top 10 stories were announced yesterday at a press conference jointly arranged by the Association of Environmental Reporters (
The Kaoping River pollution case, in which a waste handling firm was caught red-handed dumping toxic chemical solvents into the southern Taiwan river on July 14, was ranked as the most important environmental story last year.
The case triggered an in-depth investigation carried out by prosecutors and resulted in the indictments of 22 people a month later. Twelve have been charged with attempted homicide and prosecutors have requested that five be given life sentences. Two firms involved also received corporate indictments. The prosecutor requested that the source of the toxic solvents, Eternal Chemical Company (
EPA deputy administrator James Lee (李界木) said yesterday that results of the survey reflected several important issues which the administration would address further.
"In the past, the EPA focused more on the management of household waste than on that of industrial waste. Now we have the determination to manage industrial waste more effectively this year by working with other related government agencies, such as the Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs," Lee said.
Taipei City's new pay-per-bag waste collection scheme, which began last July, revealed a number of problems inherent in the municipality's waste recycling policy, and came second in the top 10 list.
"The media can monitor the government's performance. The survey reflects the fact that Taipei City still has lots to do on the waste recycling issue," DPP legislator Lin Chung-mo (
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung's (
Liu Te-chan (
Environmental officials said important issues such as local opposition to incinerators and landfills did not figure on the list of top 10 stories, but said that the EPA considered these issues extremely important.
"Taking the opposition to the Meinung Waste Incinerator (
Controversy over the incinerator in Kaohsiung County was sparked early last year after Meinung residents heard rumors that the facility was operating illegally. An operator at the plant revealed that the incinerator sometimes burned waste at a temperature lower than the minimum deemed safe to do so.
Scientists have found that unregulated combustion creates hazardous pollutants, among them dioxin.
Lee said that the EPA would not support building small-scale waste incinerators in the future because of local opposition, but said people needed to be weaned from a "not-in-my-backyard" attitude.
Lee further said comprehensive plans would help ensure a better environment in the future.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite