The Cabinet task force established to deal with an oil spill cleanup in southern Taiwan said yesterday that soldiers will take over all on-shore work today.
But the task force added that some of the work opportunities would be preserved for local residents.
PHOTO: HUNG CHEN-SHENG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lin Jun-yi (林俊義), head of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), who is leading the task force, said yesterday that more than 1,000 soldiers would work to remove oil from deep gullies in the next two weeks. After that, Lin said, the soldiers would focus their efforts on contaminated reefs.
Chief of the General Staff Tang Yao-ming (
Lin told Tang that the army's involvement would not cause any local opposition.
"We still have lots of work for local residents in addition to cleaning up the oil, such as transporting goods or paving access roads," Lin said.
Local workers who have secured temporary work removing the oil, however, expressed their opposition to having soldiers dominate the oil cleanup work.
"At least we residents should be the majority," a female worker said.
Every worker is paid NT$1,500 a day by the ship's agent for the oil collection work. The part-time jobs have attracted fishermen and unemployed residents.
The oil spill occurred when the Greek ship, the M.V. Amorgos, ran aground on submerged reefs on Jan. 14 after a mechanical failure which left it out of control for 19 hours.
The oil began to leak on Jan. 18. Earlier this month, the EPA estimated that at least 1,150 tonnes of oil had spilled into the sea and polluted coastal reefs in the Lungkeng Ecological Preservation Area (
In Lungkeng yesterday, facilities for high pressure sprays were set up by the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau (高雄港務局). Workers sprayed seawater on reefs and then used oil absorbent cotton to dry them.
EPA officials said that environmental experts had carried out a preliminary analysis of the impact caused by the oil spill over a three-day period.
Cheng Shean-rong (
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday started to discuss with the Ministry of National Defense, the Coast Guard Administration and the ship's agent in Taiwan the best way to deal with the wreck, which is only 800m from Lungkeng. The ship's owner has already given up ownership of the vessel, transportation officials said yesterday.
The EPA asked Chinese Petroleum Corp (
Meanwhile, the government's slow response to the oil spill is continuing to have political repercussions. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
A team composed of five Control Yuan members will inspect the damaged area today and tomorrow. Interviews with officials involved might be carried out there if necessary.
New Party lawmaker Elmer Feng (
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS