The coastal erosion at Fulong Beach in northern Taiwan can be attributed to the construction of a nearby wharf, designed to accommodate heavy machines on their way to the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Kungliao, Taipei County, according to a Cabinet's task force investigating the case.
Yang Chao-yueh (
"We will hand in the conclusions to Premier Yu Shyi-kun, via a committee in charge of the case, to showing why it is urgent to halt the construction," Yang said at a press conference held at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMESN
The committee is composed of officials from Cabinet-level agencies, academics and environmental groups.
"Based on the conclusions, we would strongly suggest that the premier halt the construction," said committee member Shih Shin-min (施信民) of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (台灣環保聯盟).
It is expected that the premier will respond to the committee's suggestions in mid-February.
The investigation was prompted by an urgent demand from environmental and conservation groups in mid-January. At the time, Yu promised to decide the wharf's future within one month, once the relationship between the erosion and the construction of the wharf was determined.
Local residents claimed that two thirds of the sand on the beach has disappeared since 1999, when the construction was launched.
Shih said the nuclear plant project was designed more than a decade ago, at a time when the possible environmental impact of such a construction project was neglected.
In September 1991, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) gave conditional approval to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the nuclear power plant project.
When the EIA Act was put into effect at the end of 1994, environmentalists began highlighting what they said were questionable aspects of the assessment conducted by the AEC and called for a new, comprehensive evaluation to be conducted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
In response to that request, the EPA established a committee to monitor environmental conditions near the construction site -- but did not order a new environmental impact assessment.
"The loss of sand is just one example demonstrating the poor design of the project and the government's carelessness," Shih said.
DPP Legislator Eugene Jao (
DPP lawmakers Lai Chin-lin (
The lawmakers said that erosion -related problems near many wharves in Taiwan could be attributed to a "jetty effect," which depletes sand on nearby beaches.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS