The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday issued a resolution that Wanta Mining Co’s plan to start operations in Yilan County’s Dabai Mountain (大白山) is to undergo a second-stage environmental impact assessment (EIA) over concerns about the damage mining could inflict on Taiwanese beech trees (Fagus hayatae), an endangered tree on the Forestry Bureau’s list of rare plants.
The 12 hectare space allocated to Wanta by the Bureau of Mines for the company to set up a mining complex is just 180m away from a clump of Taiwanese beech trees, with excavations set to take place near the foot of the mountain.
Yilan County Environmental Protection Bureau officials who attended the EIA meeting opposed the plan, citing concerns over potential rockfalls and water pollution the mining activities could cause, affecting local Atayal Aborigines of the Wuta tribe (武塔).
Since the mining site is home to a dozen protected animal species, including the Formosan Reeve’s muntjac, Formosan rock monkeys, Swinhoe’s pheasants and civets, they were also concerned about the impact the project would have on local flora and fauna.
Citing a document issued by the Forestry Bureau to Yilan County Government in February last year, which stated that the Taiwanese beech trees are growing on the reserved area for a nature reserve, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, researcher Pan Yi-ting (潘怡婷) criticized the plan.
She also questioned the Forestry Bureau’s plans to delay the delimitation of the nature reserve’s scope, which the agency had originally scheduled to announce in 2012.
“This is the most ridiculous EIA meeting in history. Had the Forestry Bureau announced the scope of the nature reserve as it promised, we would not have had to go through all this,” she said.
She also warned of the possibility of Wanta demanding compensation from the government when the national land planning draft act, currently under review by legislators, is passed, because the proposed draft, set to replace the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法), will bar developments from taking place in an ecologically sensitive zone.
“In a couple of years, the national land planning act will come into effect and there will be zero chance that mining would be allowed on the site. However, if the passage of the EIA report precedes the act’s enforcement, the developer [Wanta] will very likely demand state compensation — which will be issued on taxpayers’ money — and the environment will have suffered irreparable damage,” she said.
“It would result in a zero-sum game among the company, the people and the environment,” Pan said.
Wanta general manager Chien Ming-ta (簡銘達) said his companies had spent about NT$180 million (US$5.7 million) over the nine years since it obtained mining rights in the area.
The EIA committee members later resolved that the development plan should undergo a second-stage EIA, during which the company is to propose solutions to all the problems mentioned and explain why its soil samples produced abnormally high levels of heavy metal pollutants.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai