Accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻), Miaoli County residents yesterday urged the Water Resources Agency (WRA) to abort its planned construction of the Tianhuahu Reservoir (天花湖水庫) on the border of Miaoli’s Touwu (頭屋) and Gongguan (公館) townships.
Construction plans for the reservoir were initiated more than a decade ago, and while local residents have opposed the project for several years — gathering a petition with more than 10,000 signatures in 2010 — the plan gained conditional approval at an environmental impact assessment meeting earlier this month.
Wu said residents are concerned that the cross-watershed diversion engineering project could lead to possible mudslides, such as the one in Greater Kaohsiung’s Siaolin Village (小林), which was buried by a massive mudslide when Typhoon Morakot struck the area in 2009 and which it was said to have been caused by the Tsengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) project.
“The cross-watershed diversion causes the water vein in the mountain to become dried and cracked, and if there is sudden and heavy rain during the dry season it could lead to a massive landslide,” convener of the Southern Waters Alliance Lu Tai-ying (魯台營) said.
The planned reservoir is also located on a faultline, so it may also threaten lives in the two nearby townships, Lu said.
There are already five reservoirs in the county that provide enough water for the nearby townships, Gongguan Township Elected Representatives member Chou Feng-chia (周逢甲) said, adding that the residents are also concerned about the project diverting water from the Houlong River (後龍溪) and adversely affecting the environment or causing desertification in downstream areas.
Chiang Kui-hsi (江貴熙), vice chairperson of Touwu Township Elected Representatives, said the project would not only lead to the forced eviction of more than 200 people living in a village in Touwu Township, but also restrictions on development projects in nearby villages to protect the quality of water, so the plan would affect nearly the whole township.
Wu asked the WRA to re-evaluate the water usage in Miaoli County and hold public hearings in the townships that would be affected by the project within the next three months to communicate with local residents, before submitting a construction plan to the Executive Yuan.
In response, Water Resources Agency Deputy Director-General Lai Bor-hsun (賴伯勳) said the reservoir has been planned according to the future development needs of the county and the engineering techniques used would be carefully chosen to mitigate the concerns of local residents.
“The fault only runs through a part of the area of the planned project and tunnel engineering techniques have improved, so if there are some geologically fractured zones the agency would certainly employ safe construction measures,” Lai said, adding that the agency would continue to communicate with local residents on the project.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS