Residents of Meinung township (
On Thursday evening, more than 100 Meinung residents and anti-incinerator activists attended a public hearing called by DPP legislators Hsu Chih-ming (
Hsu said that he would lead Meinung residents to protest in front of the Presidential Office if the local government failed to address the problem.
Controversy over the incinerator was sparked early this year after Meinung residents heard rumors that the facility was operating illegally.
An operator at the plant revealed that the incinerator sometimes burned waste at a temperature lower than was safe to do so.
In addition, residents said they believed hazardous industrial and medical waste had been transported to the plant in secret. The incinerator is only permitted to burn 110 tonnes of household waste daily.
After carrying out what they said was a long-term investigation, the anti-incinerator activists in Meinung claimed the procedure by which the government issued operating permits to the plant was questionable.
Local residents then filed a lawsuit in August and the case has since been taken over by Kaohsiung County district prosecutors. Last month, prosecutors interrogated several county government officials suspected of corruption linked to the incinerator. All were subsequently released on bail.
Investigations are now focusing on the process by which the plant's operating permit (操作許可) and construction license (建築執照) were issued by the local government.
Prosecutors said that one of the key points in question was that the waste incinerator was built in an area that previously was a buffer zone for the Laonung River (
Residents previously accused the Taiwan Provincial Government, before it was downsized, of arbitrarily narrowing the buffer zone along the river in 1998 to allow the incinerator to be built there.
Hsiao Chu-liang (
"The government, by allowing an incinerator to be built in a river buffer zone, has neglected the safety of millions living in the Kaohsiung metropolitan area downstream who rely on the river as a source of drinking water," Hsiao said.
During the hearing, local farmers played a videotape which documented what they said was "unusual crop damage" linked to the incinerator. Furthermore, the area affected by the damage is widening, they said.
One local resident, a mother, said that her child began suffering from asthma and a skin disease after the plant began to burn waste in September 1999.
She said that her child was only one of many in the area who suffered similar symptoms.
Due to strong local opposition, the plant has stopped accepting hazardous industrial waste for processing. Meinung residents, however, remain dissatisfied -- and say they will campaign until the plant is closed down permanently.
Hsu said that the plant should have already been shut down -- albeit temporarily -- while prosecutors conduct their investigations.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS