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Hualien tourism head decries Suhua delays

The Suhua Freeway fracas continued yesterday when Hualien Tourism Association president Shih Sheng-lang (施勝郎) criticized members of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Environmental Review Committee (ERC) for new construction delays.

"At the moment [the Hualien people] are not ruling out the possibility of going up to Taipei and holding a large-scale protest," Shih said.

During the administration's monthly ERC meeting on Friday, committee members passed an unscheduled proposal to "indefinitely" postpone the review of the long-standing Suhua case "until Chinese National Party [KMT] Legislator Fu Kun-chi offers a public apology for tarnishing their reputation and undermining their professionalism."

"In addition, there are too many unresolved issues about the case -- the timing is sensitive because of the pending election, several technical problems have not been addressed in terms of the case's environmental impact, and also, whether a `fast' road equals a `safe' road should be further debated," one ERC member said yesterday.

Fu, who has been a strong supporter of the Suhua project, on March 7 accused six ERC members of favoring another of Hualien's development projects -- the Heping village coal-burning power plant -- saying they were taking kickbacks from the power plant developer.

The postponement may mean that the decade-long review case, which finally received a conditional green light on Monday, could face further delays.

As for the Suhua case being discussed during an unscheduled meeting, Shih accused the committee of manipulating the case behind closed doors.

"No one notified us that this was going to happen," Shih said.

"The ERC has a disregard for the wishes of Hualien's people. The freeway can potentially bring us economic stability and employment opportunities, but now they are being denied," he said, adding that Suhua supporters from Hualien may hold a large-scale protest in Taipei.

Fu yesterday refused to offer an apology to the ERC, saying that the committee members should answer his question as to why they favored the power plant, which would emit 179 times more carbon than the Suhua freeway.

"If they want my apology, they need to pass the Suhua freeway case first," he said. "In today's world when everyone is against coal-burning power plants, they passed the power plant. Suhua Freeway is a mere road for Hualien people to safely go home on, but has evolved from a simple construction case into a politically sensitive matter."

"The ERC is using it as an election manipulator and I will not join in their dance," he said.
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