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 Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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