Residents of Kaoshiung’s Siaogang District (小港) and environmental activists yesterday demonstrated in front of the Dalinpu (大林埔) community center to decry a Greater Kaohsiung Government plan for a 46-hectare special zone for ferry manufacturing as part of the South Star Plan, accusing the government of bypassing a second-stage environmental impact assessment (EIA) process and expressing concern over potential health dangers.
The protesters accused the Kaohsiung Marine Bureau of violating regulations by canceling at short notice a public hearing and two information meetings — standard procedure required as part of a second-stage EIA — originally scheduled for yesterday morning, but delivered an EIA report to the administration for review anyway.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in September 2013 ordered that the project undergo a second-stage EIA amid concern that it would form a circle with other existing facilities, including steel smelters and power and petrochemical plants, thereby blocking an area southwest of the communities facing the sea and degrading local air quality.
The administration said the location selected by the Greater Kaohsiung Government is not necessarily the most suitable for the ferry site, and that the project could have a profound impact on the environment.
Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan deputy chief executive officer Wang Min-ling (王敏玲) said it was not until residents arrived at the activity center — the venue for the meetings — that they discovered the meetings had been canceled.
She criticized the municipal government for delivering an almost-identical EIA report to the administration for the second-stage review, thereby snubbing the order to provide more details on the project and propose alternative plans.
She said the project would build 43 plants for vessel manufacturing, which would deprive the residents of access to clean air.
She said the average PM2.5 level in the district is 2.5 times the national standard stipulated by the EPA, endangering the health of about 19,000 residents and making it the fourth most polluted area nationwide.
She called on Chen to deliver on her promise to Siaogang locals that she would listen to their opinions before carrying out the project.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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