The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday said it would abide by a court ruling on the Phase 3 Zone Development of the Central Taiwan Science Park, but warned of the negative consequences of that decision.
Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏), director-general of the EPA’s planning department, said the EPA would deliver the court ruling to the Central Taiwan Science Park Administration within seven days once it receives the official ruling.
Meanwhile, Yeh cited Article 14 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), which says that “the competent authority may not grant permission for development activity prior to the completion of an environment impact assessment review or the authorization of an environmental assessment report ... The permission granted in violation of this regulation shall be invalid.”
“The EPA has completed the review and made public the results of the review. While the court annulled the effectiveness of the results, Article 14 does not apply in this particular case because the developer followed regulations by conducting the environmental impact assessment,” he said, adding that the administration’s view on the article was seconded by the Ministry of Justice.
Yeh said environmentalists disagreed with the EPA’s interpretation of Article 14 and filed lawsuits to challenge the interpretation.
The court has yet to rule on the case and the EPA cannot ask investors at the Phase 3 zone to stop construction simply because of a pending lawsuit, he said. If the court disagrees with the EPA’s interpretation, Yeh said it would be “the source of many disasters to come,” as it would add uncertainty on the results of other environmental impact assessment reports.
“Like a housing project that passes an impact assessment and the developer begins construction,” Yeh said, “Three years later, the environmental impact assessment becomes invalid, the building becomes illegal and all the tenants have to move out. More cases like this will happen. I can assure you that the Central Taiwan Science Park would not be the only one.”
Yeh denied the EPA had deliberately delayed the review of the health risk assessment.
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
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 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,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS