In response to criticisms leveled by President Chen Shui-bian (
While inspecting industrial complexes in Taoyuan and Hsinchu yesterday, Chen said that EIA committees at the local level had hampered development due to an uncertain time frame for obtaining committee approval.
Commenting on the case of Quanta Display (
Representatives for Quanta Display said the time frame for the EIA evaluation should have been shortened and environmental standards should have been clearly set out.
Taoyuan County Government officials, however, said that while the local government involved is inclined to support the investment, the voice of EIA committee members, who say that the operation of the plant might affect water resource protection areas, should not be ignored.
The current economic recession in Taiwan has brought about pressure to abolish the existing EIA system in order to speed up economic development, an idea voiced by representatives of the industrial sector at the ongoing Economic Development Advisory Conference.
Responding to Chen's criticism, officials of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday that the EIA system was designed to prevent pollution from being caused by inappropriate or poorly implemented development.
"EIA committee members, mostly environmental experts and academics, can ensure that developments will create the least possible negative environmental impact," said Ni Shih-piao (倪世標), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Comprehensive Planning (綜計處), adding that EIA committee members would not hold up the development without reason.
In the case of Quanta Display, Ni said, the EPA had no right to interfere with local EIA committees.
To facilitate the efficient conduct of EIAs, the EPA has drafted standards for reviewing proposals for sand exploitation, industrial complexes, and residential areas for local EIA committee members.
Wang To-far (王塗發), an economics professor at National Taipei University (台北大學) told the Taipei Times yesterday that, in terms of the EIA system, there was no conflict between economic development and environmental protection.
Environmentalists from the Hsinchu Environmental Protection Association (
"Based on previous cases, receiving EIA approval doesn't mean that waste water or gas expelled by high-tech firms meet environmental standards," said Chung Shu-chi (
Chung said that local governments tend to cooperate with high-tech companies and passed their EIA cases conditionally. One famous case involved the Hsinchu City Government giving in to United Microelectronics Corp (聯電, UMC), Taiwan's No. 2 chipmaker, last year. The chipmaker proposed to the construction of wafer plants near a water resources protection area.
Chung, also one of the mem-bers of the Environmental Monitoring Team of the Science-based Industrial Park Administration, said that the team had placed heavy pressure on high-tech firms.
"We are not against money-making companies. We just want all parties to take responsibility for insuring the safety of [our] shared environment," Chung said.
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