Environmental protection groups yesterday demonstrated in front of the Yunlin County Government, calling on Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) not to grant new permits for power plants in the nation’s sixth naphtha cracker complex to continue burning petroleum coke and coal.
They said a moratorium on new permits would encourage the county council to pass a draft law banning such fuels.
The county government earlier this month published a draft bylaw that stipulates that, to protect public health, all facilities in the county are to cease burning petroleum coke one year after the bylaw takes effect, and that coal is to be banned after the third year.
During the campaign for last year’s nine-in-one local elections, Lee vowed to ban the use of the two materials if he won.
The permits for three coal-fired power plants in Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s complex will expire in June. Formosa Petrochemical is a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG).
Yunlin-based environmentalist Wu Sung-lin (吳松霖) said that if Lee agrees to renew the permits, it would defeat the purpose of the draft bylaw and make it more difficult to pass it.
Renewing the permits would open up a back door for FPG to influence county councilors into blocking the bylaw, Wu said.
Recently published research by Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), a professor of occupational medicine and industrial hygiene at National Taiwan University, conducted at the behest of the Yunlin County Government, found excessive levels of heavy metals and metabolites from exposure to carcinogens in urine samples of residents living close to the naphtha cracker complex, which means they could have a higher chance of developing cancer.
The study also tied elevated levels of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, benzene, propylene and ethylene in the air to emissions from the cracker.
Citing Article 28 of the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣汙染防制法), Wu said that Lee has the authority to deny FPG the permits, since the cracker’s emissions have been proven to harm public health.
The article states that permits should be issued after a facility’s emissions pass inspection.
Association of Yunlin Art, Culture and Ecology member Lin Fu-yuan (林富源) said Yunlin residents have spent a considerable amount of time and energy battling pollution from the cracker complex.
Saying that the danger posed by the naphtha cracker makes the permits subject to public scrutiny, he called on Lee to be as proactive as Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Asked about the rally, Yunlin County Environmental Protection Bureau Deputy Director-General Chang Chiao-wei (張喬維) said that “the opinions gathered today will be registered and presented to the upper management.”
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