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.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard