Dozens of residents from Yunlin County’s Taisi Township (台西) and environmental activists yesterday staged a rally outside the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in Taipei over what they called the Formosa Plastic Group’s (FPG) attempt to “smuggle” plans for its fifth-phase naphtha cracker complex into the eighth and ninth analysis reports on the difference of the environmental impact for the complex’s fourth-phase expansion plans.
FPG delegates yesterday said during an environmental impact assessment (EIA) committee meeting that the company is willing to drop its fifth-phase cracker expansion plans in exchange for the plans being reviewed under the procedure of analysis reports on the difference of the environmental impact.
The delegates presented a report showing that the total production capacity increase generated by the expansions carried out according to the complex’s fourth-phase expansion plans amounted to 7.1 percent, which fails to reach the 10 percent cap stipulated by the analysis report standards.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
However, Taiwan Water Conservation Alliance spokesperson Chen Chiao-hua (陳椒華) said that the FPG’s figure was “forged,” alleging the company used false statistics to pass the EPA’s assessment, including misrepresenting the amount of volatile organic compounds the complex emitted every year.
She said the company deliberately cited statistics produced by six long dormant pressure tanks in the complex in the sixth analysis report as proof that it — along with 14 other companies operating in the complex — had reduced up to 98 tonnes of volatile organic compound emissions, which in turn helped them pass the assessment, allowing them to carry out expansion projects accounting for no more than 10 percent of their overall production capacity.
She also called into question other statistics provided by the company, including the amount of wastewater discharged into the ocean and the amount of air pollution the complex causes on a yearly basis, saying that they have all been understated by FPG.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Taisi residents showed statistics on the mortality rates of locals who suffered from cancer in 2011 and 2012, with statistics in 2011 showing that the mortality rate of Wulang (五榔) villagers was 19.4 times higher than the national average.
The EIA committee, after deliberating on the comments made by FPG, residents and activists, concluded that the company must submit a request to the Bureau of Industry and the Bureau of Energy before the committee can allow it to drop its fifth-phase plan and proceed with the assessment of its eighth and ninth analysis reports.
The committee also decided to establish a maximum for pollutants permitted in the complex with the Yunlin County’s Department of Environmental Protection and project owners, while issuing a resolution that project owners shall in the future only provide statistics on the amount of pollutants generated by collating their operational facilities.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS