Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopefuls yesterday pledged to halt the expansion of Taiwan’s petrochemical industry, which employs tens of thousands, but has drawn environmental concerns.
Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who stepped down as chairperson of the DPP to run for president, and former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) both played up their green credentials by agreeing to sign a statement to oppose a proposed NT$600 billion (US$20.5 billion) petrochemical facility in Changhua County.
The three-point statement included a vow to stand against the proposed expansion of Formosa Group’s sixth naphtha plant in Yunlin County that saw two serious industrial accidents within 18 days last year and push for stricter air pollution standards.
Tsai said the proposed eighth plant and the expansion of the sixth were unnecessary, either for the economy or local residents. Most of their end products, heavy chemicals, would be exported.
“Taiwan’s economy is at a critical juncture,” Tsai said. “In the past, we have asked for economic development at the expense of environmental protection and we have paid the price over the years for this policy, but now what we want is a clean and safe Taiwan. The time for heavily polluting -industrial factories has past.”
Tsai and Su’s agreement to sign the statement marked a major break with past DPP policy, which under president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) hesitantly approved petrochemical expansion, including the sixth plant in Yunlin County.
Since Chen stepped down in 2008, the DPP has been seeking to distance itself from both the petrochemical industry and the nuclear industry, which the former president opposed, but was unable to stop.
“It’s not just my choice,” Tsai said on the decision to sign the statement. “We had already started to ask ourselves whether we needed the petrochemical industry during the past DPP -administration. We decided that we [didn’t].”
At a separate setting, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said it was hard to decide whether the petrochemical industry should continue to exist in Taiwan because it benefits Taiwan in many ways.
However, he said that when the environment and employment clash, the government must take all things into consideration, and provide the public with sufficient information so people can debate and discuss the controversial issue.
Lee said there were many oil refineries in Taiwan and many should be closed down because they created a lot of pollution.
Like the electronics industry, Lee said the petrochemical industry created many jobs and helped boost the economy. Many people would lose their jobs if an oil refinery closed down, he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
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