The environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure needs to be overhauled so that controversial projects can be reviewed more thoroughly and political responsibility is more clearly defined, environmentalists said yesterday.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) today will hold its fifth EIA meeting related to a controversial petrochemical project planned by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co for a wetlands area in Changhua County.
Environmental activists have criticized the EIA process, calling its as flawed.
Photo: CNA
Chen Ping-hsuan (陳平軒), spokesperson of the National Youth Alliance Against Kuokuang Petrochemical Project, said members of the EIA committee reviewing the project had come under excessive political pressure because they had the power to veto the project.
Chen said the final decision on the project should not be made based solely on the EPA’s judgment. Instead, the Executive Yuan should convene interdepartmental meetings to weigh a wide range of issues, from environmental protection to economic development.
“It is the Executive Yuan, not the EPA, that should be the gatekeeper of the review process so we know who can be held substantively responsible for the decision,” he said.
Such a broad review was necessary for projects such as the Kuokuang petrochemical complex plan because they could have a substantial impact on all government branches, far beyond the reach of the EPA, the activist said.
Chen also worried that because the EPA has been given de facto veto power by politicians, the EIA committee members would be forced to consider “political issues that are not related to their expertise” because they do not want to upset the authorities.
Chen said the EIA process should rely on more formal formats, such as administrative hearings, rather than the semi-public meetings used at present where comments by committee members are not a matter of public record.
The government has suggested conducting an EIA for the country’s petrochemical industry policy as a whole, an idea that Chao Chia-wei, the coordinator of the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, believes would be a step forward.
However, he said it should take place before the authorities decided whether to give a nod to the Kuokuang project.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
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
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS