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).
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