As Taiwan continues to assess the damage and potential geological problems after last month's earthquake, government officials emphasized yesterday that environmental impact evalu-ations are both essential and effective in preventing or reducing any possible environmental damage in future.
"Environmental impact assessments should be conducted before undertaking any construction project -- that is, evaluations should take place during the planning stage," said Ni Shih-tiao (
"If developers study our evaluation results and abide by the suggestions we make, then environmental impact evaluation should be effective," he said.
Ni cited two recent examples, the Juifeng Reservoir (
Ni said that evaluation results on the Juifeng Reservoir showed that the site of the proposed dam was prone to strong earthquakes. The EPA therefore recommended the developer formulate plans to limit possible damage from earthquakes and floods before taking any further action.
Tantzu, where the medical park is planned, is located in the vicinity of the Chelungpu fault (車籠埔斷層), so the EPA has asked the developer to pay extra attention to this during planning, Ni said.
"You can imagine what these two developers may encounter if they neglect our suggestions and proceed with their original plan," he said.
Evaluations conducted by the EPA, however, only apply to the development of properties larger than 10 hectares. As for smaller properties, they are the responsibility of city and county authorities, Ni said.
"All public and non-government projects that fulfil the above criteria are required to file environmental impact evaluations with the relevant authorities," he said.
Since 1985, the EPA has examined and approved 438 cases, according to Ni, with the evaluation of each project taking about 40 days. Of the 438 cases, 33 of them were discontinued, 86 have since been completed, 94 are currently under construction, and 225 are pending construction.
Evaluations are conducted by a 21-member committee, each member a specialist in various relevant disciplines such as water pollution, air pollution, ecosystem protection, geology and so on, said Liu Tsung-yung (劉宗勇), director of the bureau.
"Although evaluations are important, reviews as to whether the project is being executed according to our recommendations is even more important," Liu said.
Before the Environmental Impact Assessment Law (環境影響評估法) came into effect in 1994, 16 developers were given a second chance to produce improved proposals. Since then, 19 developers have been fined for infringements of the law ranging from NT$300,000 to NT$1 million, Liu said.
In 1996, in addition to conducting environmental impact evaluations, the EPA investigated environmentally sensitive areas such as reservoirs, water source protection areas, nature conservation areas, wild animal protection areas and other environmentally sensitive areas through the Environmentally Sensitive Area Project.
The project is almost complete and details have been made available to the public.
The Environmentally Sensitive Area Project covers only large-area assessments. Overseeing environmental impact in other areas is conducted through the regional environmental standard project, initiated by the EPA at around the same time.
"We set up regional standards for air pollution, water pollution, and so on. This year we'll focus on central Taiwan, especially disaster areas, to provide more guidelines for future assessment and planning," Liu said.
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