I was happy to see a recent feature article in the Taipei Times titled "Fallout" (Nov. 7, page 17) about the environmental aspects of nuclear power plants in Taiwan.
It demonstrates your newspaper's commitment to such issues. Therefore, I want to draw your attention to a major environmental disaster threatening Taipei.
The Taipei City Government has earmarked the pristine mountains overlooking Neihu and Hsichih for a huge landfill to get rid of the waste materials left over from the burning of their garbage. It will contain about 80 percent ashes, but also 20 percent garbage that could not be burned.
This landfill will start at the doorsteps of a few upscale communities of about 600 houses of people that have fled the pollution and noise of Taipei and decided to build these communities about 10 minutes up in the mountains at great cost over the last 10 years. In the same area, a number of retirement homes have been built, where many elderly people enjoy the clean and fresh mountain environment. The area also has rich wildlife, including rare and native Taiwan species.
The landfill is planned to be of unbelievable magnitude (the talk is of 1,000 tons per day, over the next 100 years).
Such an immense volume of ashes and garbage will quickly poison the earth and the environment in a large area, especially because it is to be located in a valley that slopes down toward Taipei, with very high precipitation, very strong winds, and a number of rivers and streams running through it and ending up in Taipei water systems. Because of the scale of this landfill, it will eventually even reach the outskirts of Neihu.
In order to reach the site, more than 1,000 truckloads a day will have to go through densely-populated areas of Taipei and Neihu.
They will cause great pollution, noise and danger for thousands of people on a daily basis.
I invite environmentally-conscious people to join me in protesting this "disaster in the making."
Bart de Graaf
bdegraaf@ms22.hinet.net
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