Environmental groups yesterday demonstrated in front of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), saying the EPA sides with enterprises at the cost of the environment.
"We refuse to let business interests rule our government agencies!" the activists chanted.
Last Wednesday, Formosa Plastics Group's (FPG, 台塑集團) steel plant proposal in Yunlin County (雲林) underwent an environmental impact assessment (EIA), Green Party Taiwan (GPT) Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said. The meeting with FPG was requested to present data from environmental impact investigations and adjustments from a previous assessment, Pan said.
PHOTO: CNA
Yesterday the EPA representatives of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU), GPT and Taiwan Academy of Ecology said that from the EPA's track record, they feared the administration would based on FPG and pass the first assessment despite the fact that, "FPG is currently responsible for a quarter of Taiwan's greenhouse gas emissions."
"With the steel plant in operation, that figure would soar to a third, with an additional 15,000 tonnes of emissions annually," Pan said.
"At this rate, they would be emitting more emissions than all the homes, businesses and transportation around the nation combined," he added.
Former EPA environmental impact committee member Robin Winkler, who was also at the press conference, said that Yunlin County Council Speaker Su Chin-huang (
"As a foreigner who has done so much for Taiwan's environmental protection, I feel defeated that the government would condone violence against environmentalists," he said while showing his bruises from the alleged assault.
"Our demonstration is a result of being pushed over our threshold," TEPU Secretary-General Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said, citing incidents in the past year when environmentalists were arrested during demonstrations, prosecuted for protesting, and [Winkler] being physically assaulted.
"We can no longer tolerate this kind of treatment," he said.
"We are going to have a large-scale anti-global warming demonstration on Dec. 8," Pan said, adding that "we are determined to make the government hear our voices."
In response to the allegations, EPA Minister Winston Dang (
"We follow the same EIA regulations for any construction proposal," he said. "We respect environmentalists and invite them to speak at EIAs."
With regards to the alleged assault, Dang said that the case is now under investigation and that he would not comment because he wasn't present at the incident.
"We have done our best to respond; the EPA's limited police force did make efforts to pacify the conflicting parties at the time," he added.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
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Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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