Taiwan Academy of Ecology secretary-general Tsai Chih-hao (蔡智豪) yesterday criticized the Taichung City Government for allowing corporations to plant trees in national forests to “compensate” for the air pollution generated from new factories set up by the industrial sector and filed an appeal with the Judicial Yuan asking it to enforce corrective measures on the city government.
The method, known as ecological compensation, was first adopted in Taichung when the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) passed an expansion plan by Dragon Steel, a subsidiary of China Steel Corp (CSC), and many other municipalities have taken up the practice, Tsai said.
Dragon Steel is to plant 48,000 trees, including beeches, glossy privets (Ligustrum lucidum) and chinaberry trees (Melia azedarach) on a slope of Dadu Mountain (大肚山) in Shanyangkeng National Forest (山陽坑) designated for national defense and ecological conservation purposes.
An investigation conducted by the non-governmental organization last week found that Dragon Steel had completely removed saplings of a range of tree species in the forest, including the endangered Avicennia prickly ash, that were on the site to make way to plant the trees, Tsai said.
Tsai said that the firm removed the trees so that it could plant its own, which are heliophilous species, requiring more sunlight than others.
The move is doomed to fail, as there is not enough sunlight in the forest, he said.
As a result, not only have 20 percent of the trees planted by Dragon Steel become malnourished, the company’s move has greatly detracted from the forest’s diversity, Tsai said.
He decried the method, approved by the EPA with the consent of Taichung government officials, calling it an “indulgence” handed out by the municipal government to corporations so that they can pursue unrestrained industrial development without being subject to emission caps they are sure to exceed.
Tsai said that with the EPA to start monitoring PM2.5 levels emitted by factories next year, the ecological compensation method could provide corporations with a way to avoid strict emission caps, Tsai said.
PM2.5 refers to particulates less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter.
The annual average of PM2.5 concentrations recommended by the EPA is 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air, he said.
Taichung last year recorded an annual PM2.5 level of 26.98 micrograms per cubic meter, meaning that the city’s industrial sector needs to cut air pollutants by about 44.4 percent, he said.
Moreover, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) administration has allowed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to use the same method for an expansion approved by the EPA in February, which will result in the removal of a forest spanning 53 hectares on the other side of Dadu Mountain if the plan proceeds, he said.
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