Estimates of the damage caused by the Tzini oil spill on the nation's east coast last month will be delivered by Friday next week, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday. The Maltese cargo ship went aground off Suao Port (
Hsu Jen-tse (
The company, he said, must not only pay for the costs the government is facing to clean up the mess, but it must also pay for the damage done to local fishery resources as well as the damage to the marine environment.
According to Hsu, a preliminary estimate shows that the company will have to pay the central government at least NT$10 million (US$312,500). Regarding the damage to local fishery and other natural resources, the administration has asked the Suao Fishermen's Association (SFA) to quickly calculate their losses.
"Both the Taiwanese government and the ship's insurer (Assuranceforeningen Gard) have generally agreed that the entire incident will be settled through direct negotiations, and not through a lawsuit in the international court," Hsu added.
Assuranceforeningen Gard is also the insurer for Amorgus which was responsible for an oil leak several years ago. The firm reached a settlement with the EPA in August last year.
SFA representative Chen Sheng-yen (陳勝彥) said yesterday that the association has asked academics from the National Taiwan Ocean University to assist them in coming up with an accurate estimation of damages.
Chen said while it is relatively easy to determine the losses of fishermen that use set nets -- a commonly-used method to snare seasonal migrating fish along the coast -- it is much more difficult to gauge the long-term damage done to the marine environment.
"We don't want to just name a price that is not supported by specific evidence," Chen said, adding they will release their estimate on either Monday or Tuesday.
The Bureau of Environmental Protection under the Ilan County Government has reported that more than 100 tonnes of fuel oil leaked into the ocean.
The owner of the cargo ship was ordered to remove the remaining fuel oil on the vessel before having the ship towed out to sea.
However, the owner disobeyed the ruling.
Tzini's proprietor was fined a total of NT$3 million by the Ilan County Government for failing to act in time to prevent the oil leakage and for disobeying an administrative order in local waters.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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