Sat, Feb 06, 2010 page4

• NSC, EPA pass buck on park expansion

  BUSINESS AS USUAL Although a final court ruling rejected an impact assessment for plans to expand a science park, the NSC and EPA said they would not halt operations

  • By Shih Hsiu-chuan / STAFF REPORTER
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  The National Science Council (NSC) and the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday both declined to accept responsibility for expansion of operations in the Central Taiwan Science Park in spite of an assessment that warned of “serious environmental consequences” for local residents.

  The Supreme Administrative Court on Jan. 21 affirmed a High Administrative Court decision invalidating an environmental impact assessment of plans to expand the science park, located near Cising Farm (七星農場) in Houli Township (后里).

  Judges said a second review of the assessment should have taken place before the site was given the go-ahead because the project was deemed to have the potential for “serious environmental consequences” for local residents.

  Members of environmental groups and judicial reform organizations protested in front of the EPA’s headquarters in Taipei on Thursday to condemn continued operations at the site in spite of the court ruling.

  Local residents have also demanded that the project be suspended.

  EPA officials, however, have dismissed the ruling as a relic from the previous Democratic Progressive Party administration.

  At a press conference at the Government Information Office yesterday, EPA Comprehensive Planning Department Director-General Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏) said the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) granted the NSC, which is tasked with regulating operations at the nation’s science parks, the right to decide whether to revoke the permission it had issued to the developers, Sunner Solar Corp and AU Optronics Corp.

  Although the court ruling has invalidated the environmental impact assessment, Yeh said that the developers had legally acquired permission to start work and that the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) did not apply in this case.

  “Whether permission to commence operations should be revoked falls within the discretion of the NSC,” he said.

  Yeh said that the NSC, before making its decision, should take various factors into account such as public concerns, the possible impact on the nation’s economic development, public health as well as the rights and interests of the corporations involved.

  Yeh had said on Thursday that the agency would abide by the ruling and conduct a new environmental impact assessment, but operations that have already begun would not be halted.

  NSC Deputy Minister Chen Cheng-hong (陳俊宏), also present at the press conference, said the council would not suspend the project, but disagreed with Yeh about the result of the environmental impact assessment.

  “The EPA conditionally approved the environmental impact assessment of the project in 2006, which basically amounted to an approval of the project. Based on that, we told the corporations that they could start work,” Chen said.

  “Meanwhile, we’ve sent more documents to the EPA for review to meet the conditions,” he said, adding that he hoped the EPA could speed up its review process so that the conditions could be met.

  The EPA should also continue to review the case to make its original environmental impact assessment more comprehensive instead of conducting a new one from scratch, he added.

  ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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