Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) will weigh in on a disagreement between the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) regarding a decision that could lead to Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (台塑石化) withdrawal from an investment project.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉) yesterday said that Chen was aware of the impact the EPA’s decision will have on the investment climate and will look carefully into the case.
Members of the EPA’s environmental impact assessment committee on Thursday voted 9 to 6 to reject the appeal filed by the corporation against an earlier decision it made on Aug. 3 that volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions generated from flares, water cooling tanks, and while painting, cleaning and performing annual maintenance on water storage tanks, are sources of pollutants subject to the VOC limit.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Friday quoted Formosa Petrochemical chairman Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎) as saying that the decision could cause the company to abandon the project to build a hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer (HSBC) plant, which would cost NT$6.2 billion (US$211.46 million) and be jointly funded by the US-based Kraton Polymers.
Chen Bao-lang was quoted as saying that he regretted the decision, but would respect it.
The project is known as the fourth-phase expansion of Formosa Plastics’naphtha cracker in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮), where many are worried about air quality being worsened by the petrochemical plant and the impact it has on residents’ health.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) issued a press release on Friday saying that he was extremely worried about the consequences the EPA’s policy might have and urged the agency and members of environmental impact assessment committee to seriously consider how their decision would affect investors’ willingness to invest in Taiwan.
In response to Shih’s remarks, EPA Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) suggested that the EPA be stripped of its veto power over investment projects and that environmental impact assessments of construction projects be conducted by any regulatory agency whichever grants development permits, in this case the MOEA.
Hu yesterday said the Cabinet will have interagency meeting to discuss the issue when necessary.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
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