Thousands of protesters yesterday rallied in Changhua against Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp, saying that its coal-fired power plant in the city causes serious air pollution.
About 3,000 people, some wearing shackles and chains, marched across the city to the front of the Changhua County Hall, demanding that the county government reject the company’s license renewal application and shut its coal-fired power plant ahead of the Sept. 28 renewal deadline.
The Changhua County Council in July passed a bylaw to enforce more stringent emissions standards to improve air quality by effectively banning petroleum coke and bituminous coal.
Photo: CNA
The company’s power plant, which uses bituminous coal, accounts for about 60 percent of the county’s coal consumption.
The Changhua County Government has repeatedly rejected the company’s license renewal applications, and organizers of the rally said they wanted to press the county government to stand firm on its pollution reduction policies.
Organizers said a signature collection campaign launched on Sept. 10 had collected more than 10,000 signatures, and it would be continued until Sept. 28.
Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance convener Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said the number of people who took part in the rally highlights the seriousness of air pollution in the county.
Politicians across party lines showed up to give their support, including New Power Party legislators Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) and Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Su-yueh (陳素月) and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chen Chieh (陳杰).
“The company has filed a renewal application 28 times, and the county government rejected it 28 times. The county government will commission legal and environmental experts to review the application when the company files it again,” said Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), a DPP member.
The rally was largely peaceful, although there was a scuffle with police after Wei returned to the county hall.
He did not directly respond to protesters’ demands, but again explained the county government’s review process.
The county government later issued a statement saying it plans to remove the company’s facility from the city to make the city coal-free, as the county’s PM2.5 levels — fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers — have exceeded the legal limit.
The county government reiterated that it has the most stringent emission standards in the nation, saying it would review Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp’s renewal application according to those standards.
The firm issued a statement saying industrial emissions are not the major source of PM2.5 in the county, and that traffic emissions and pollution from other cities and counties has a more significant affect.
Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp said it has invested billions of New Taiwan dollars in pollution prevention measures and its emissions are in accordance with national standards.
Nearly 1,000 company employees, all of them Changhua residents, would lose their jobs if the county rejects the company’s renewal application again, the firm said, calling on the county to renew its operating permit.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS