Environmental groups yesterday presented the Ministry of Economic Affairs with academic studies on endangered coral showing that it is not feasible to transplant coral away from the planned site of CPC Corp, Taiwan’s (CPC) third liquefied natural gas terminal.
The company plans to build a gas terminal on yet-to-be reclaimed land off Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guantang Industrial Park.
However, environmental groups say the project could damage the endangered coral Polycyathus chaishanensis and a wide stretch of algal reef off the Datan coast.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said in a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan on Thursday last week that the coral could be transplanted, triggering wide criticism from biologists.
Taiwan Wetland Society researchers, who were commissioned by CPC to conduct environmental studies on the coast, have misinformed Shen, said Academia Sinica biologist Allen Chen (陳昭倫), who discovered the coral on Datan’s coast in June.
“The ministry or the Executive Yuan should set up a forum so academics concerned about the issue can voice their opinions,” Chen said.
Chen and Taoyuan Local Union director-general Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政) presented studies on the endangered coral and algal reef and called on ministry officials to increase their knowledge of local ecology.
Pan initiated an online petition to protect the endangered coral, which has attracted 7,000 signatures as of Tuesday, including those of former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and academician Liao Yun-fan (廖運範).
The Taoyuan Department of Agriculture has been ordered by the Council of Agriculture to collect relevant information to determine if the coral habitat should be designated as a conservation area, Council of Agriculture Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) said at the legislature, responding to questions from New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明).
A decision is expected in six months, Lin said.
The council should assert its position to protect the endangered species, even though CPC’s project has to undergo another environmental review, Hsu said.
The Environmental Jurists Association is to hold a forum about protecting the coral today at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS