Environmentalists yesterday said soil samples near the controversial Miramar Resort Village in Taitung County’s Shanyuan Beach (杉原沙灘) were found to contain exceedingly high levels of chromium, but the company said its test reports showed the levels were within safe limits.
After the Supreme Administrative Court ruled last month that the construction permit to build the resort was invalid, many environmentalists have urged the government to tear down the building.
However, the Taitung County Government, which gave permission for the build-operate-transfer development project, told the Ministry of Interior on Monday that the court had found the first construction permit in 2005 invalid, adding that since another permit was granted in 2008 for a larger area and an environmental impact assessment was underway, the hotel was not an illegal construction.
At Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan’s office in Taipei yesterday, Tainan Community University researcher Wu Jen-pang (吳仁邦) said heavy metal contamination tests on soil samples collected from seven sites near the hotel on Oct. 4 showed that three of the samples contained chromium concentrations exceeding the soil quality standard of 250 parts per million (ppm).
Wu said he suspects the chromium comes from the hotel construction and may have been the result of the illegal mixing of bottom ashes or industrial waste with cement. Wu added he is “concerned that the heavy metal contaminated soil will negatively affect visitors’ health.”
“Since 2009, our investigations have shown that many coral reefs have been contaminated with dirt and sand. We are now even more concerned that they may be contaminated by the heavy metal substances found in the soil samples,” said the director of Taiwan Environmental Info Association’s Environmental Trust Center, Sun Hsiu-ju (孫秀如).
Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳), director of Citizen’s Hualien and Taitung offices, said the hotel had violated the law many times during its construction and damaged the surrounding environment so the government should tear it down.
In response, Miramar’s Development Department section head Lin Hong-che (林弘哲) provided a test report as evidence that the soil was not contaminated and said the company had commissioned Cheng Shiu University — whose lab is approved by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) — to conduct soil quality examinations in June.
During the press conference, Wu said the test results provided by Miramar were derived using the elution method, in which the soil samples are dissolved in an acidic solution before testing, often resulting in inaccurate readings. Wu added that Miramar should instead use total concentration analysis to provide more accurate test results.
Miramar then issued a press release in the evening saying that their test results had indeed been derived using total concentration analysis.
The EPA has also sent an inspection team to collect samples.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
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