A coalition of environmental protection groups yesterday rallied outside the Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) in Taipei, demanding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) revise a plan to expand the nation’s petrochemical industry and expand coal-fired power plants.
The protestors said that the expansions of power plants were proposed arbitrarily and without assessing potential health risks.
The ministry plan includes establishing a petrochemical storage and transportation center in the Port of Kaohsiung; increasing the production capacity of coal-fired power plants in New Taipei’s Linkou (林口) and Rueifang (瑞芳) districts by 4 million kilowatt-hours and adding four coal-fired power generators at Taiwan Power Co’s Dalin (大林) power plant and two at its Singda (興達) power plant.
The plan also includes several controversial water projects, including the Tsengwen River (曾文溪) and the artificial Gaoping Great Lakes (高屏大湖) — cross-border water channeling projects aimed at ameliorating water shortages.
Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that even though there would be an environmental impact assessment undertaken if the plan is approved, it was highly unlikely that the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) would order the project to be revised to reduce its impact on the nation’s environment.
The EPA rarely interferes with projects proposed by the ministry and the ministry has ignored requests from the public that the plan be revised, she said.
Citing studies about the health hazards associated with coal-fired power plants, Chen said that the ministry plan lacks a health-risk assessment.
She criticized the EPA’s overall emission control proposal for the Kaohsiung-Pingtung air quality zone, scheduled for implementation next month.
Chen also said that it was a “fake” scheme because it appeared to lack any authority over the ministry’s plan.
Trees Party chief strategy officer Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲) said that the ministry’s plan prioritizes profit over public health and the environment.
He said that the plan, which forms part of the Ministry of the Interior’s pending National Regional Plan, concerns land use and should therefore be proposed after a comprehensive assessment of its impact on local economies.
Profit should be pursued in conjunction with sustainability and local communities should benefit from the money, Pan said.
The environmentalists called on authorities to improve existing management of reservoirs rather than taking on controversial projects.
Critics have said the Kaoping Great Lakes project, which involves turning farmland into five artificial lakes, is too costly and would increase the chance of flooding, while those who oppose the Tsengwen River plan said that construction would pass through nearby fault lines.
The Water Resources Agency has previously said that the Gaoping Great Lakes project would increase daily water supply to Kaohsiung and Pingtung County by 340,000 tonnes and would cost NT$12.6 billion (US$412.56 million).
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS