Outraged Yunlin County residents gathered in Taipei City yesterday to call upon the government to halt an incinerator project which they say could pollute their water supply.
The incinerator, which would burn 600 tonnes of household waste a day, is planned for Yunlin's Linnei Township (
The water-treatment plant project, approved by the Cabinet in May, will invite public bids in February. Construction of the plant is expectedly to be completed by the end of 2003.
The water plant is designed to supply 400,000 tonnes of tap water a day to Yunlin County residents.
At a public hearing held by DPP legislator Lai Chin-lin (賴勁麟) at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, residents of Linnei Township accused local environmental officials of bungling the recently passed environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the incinerator project.
"Why didn't the EIA committee consider the negative impact the incinerator could have on our soil, water resources and air?" asked Chang Tsui-ping (張翠屏), head of the Self-help Association of Wutu Village (烏塗村) in Linnei township.
Chang said that the passage of the EIA for the incinerator project could be attributed to mutual interests of the builder, Ta-Ho Environmental and Technical Services Co (達和公司) and the local government.
Chang said that the builder did not even organize a public hearing to listen to objections from local residents.
"It's absolutely absurd to build a waste incinerator in Linnen ownship, because it is an important agricultural area for orange, banana and rice crops," said Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬), a recently elected DPP legislator for Yunlin County.
Yunlin County Government environmental officials said the EIA committee believed, based on specifications provided by the builder, that the incinerator's emissions would meet national environmental standards.
But water-resources officials suggested that the waste incinerator be relocated to a planned industrial complex in a coastal area.
"Relocating the incinerator to a coastal area would give consideration to both waste management and water-resources protection," said Liu Feng-shou (
However, anti-incinerator activists said yesterday that the EPA's statistics imply that the county does not need a new incinerator.
Chen Jian-zhi (陳建志), director of the Waste Policy Committee of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, said that residents of the county together generated on average 647 tonnes of waste per day last year, a drop from 762 tonnes per day the previous year.
"In addition to the dramatic drop in waste generation, the county's recycling rate jumped to 4.8 percent last year from 0.6 percent in 1998," Chen said.
Taiwan's policy of allowing household waste to be disposed of by incineration is thoroughly out of date and needs a complete review, Chen added.
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