Environmental groups opposed to the coal-fired Shenao Power Plant (深澳電廠) and third liquefied natural gas terminal projects yesterday said that they are to march on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on Nov. 3 to criticize Premier William Lai (賴清德) for backing the projects.
Plans to build Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) Shenao plant in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳) obtained approval from the Environmental Protection Administration in May, sparking protests from residents and groups.
Meanwhile, CPC Corp, Taiwan’s plan to build a gas terminal on the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was in July rejected by an environmental impact assessment committee, but its conclusion must be confirmed by a grand assembly.
Photo: CNA
Environmental groups Air Clean Taiwan, Taoyuan Local Union and the Green Consumers’ Foundation said that they are to march on Ketagalan Boulevard three weeks before the nine-in-one local elections to push candidates to save algal reefs on the terminal’s planned site and to reject the Shenao project.
Regarding Lai’s announcement later yesterday that the Executive Yuan might consider revoking permission for the Shenao project if the terminal plan is passed, union director Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政) said that Lai is lying and deliberately sowing discord among New Taipei City and Taoyuan residents.
The projects are not interchangeable, as one is a coal-fired plant and the other is a gas terminal, Pan said, adding that Lai is trying to curry favor with New Taipei City residents as the Democratic Progressive Party is nervous about its election chances there.
The groups are to hold the march and continue watching the Executive Yuan’s attitude on the project, Pan added.
Lai’s statement proves that the Shenao project is not as necessary as he has claimed, Anti-Shenao Plant Self-Help Group director Chen Chih-chiang (陳志強) said, adding that the Executive Yuan should scrap the plan.
The group on Wednesday sent out more than 200 letters of promise to election candidates in Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung, asking them to declare their opposition to the Shenao project, Chen said.
As of yesterday, the group had received signatures from seven city councilor candidates, but no mayoral candidates, he said.
The group would on Oct. 15 reveal the names of candidates who make the promise, Chen said, adding that it would also join the Nov. 3 march to urge the government to review its energy policy.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,