Mon, Aug 05, 2002 page2

• Activists to step onto global stage

  ENVIRONMENT Residents in Meinung township who have been fighting to close an incinerator there will get a chance to explain how they have rallied support for their movement at the Civil Society Global Forum

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Activists in Meinung township (美濃), Kaohsiung County, opposed to both a waste incinerator and the establishment of a reservoir will have a chance to share their experiences at the upcoming Civil Society Global Forum.

  The forum will be held on the sidelines of the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development.

  

  Anti-incinerator activists remember two pioneers of the Meinung environmental movement, Wu Chi-tsung and Lin Tsuo-fu, in front of the Meinung incinerator on Saturday. Wu died of cancer last year, while Lin died from the disease this year.

  PHOTO COURTESY OF MEINUNG PEOPLE'S ASSOCIATION

  On Saturday, the second anniversary of the start of a 13-day anti-incinerator demonstration, about 150 activists gathered in front of the controversial Meinung Incinerator to demand its immediate closure.

  Unlike the protest two years ago, two of the demonstrators' colleagues, who helped the pioneer community's environmental movement, were not among their ranks.

  Both Wu Chi-tsung (吳其聰), head of the Meinung Doctoral Scholars' Association, and Lin Tsuo-fu (林作福), a former borough chief of Chiyang Borough (吉洋里), have died of liver cancer since then.

  Activists claim that an increasing number of both adults and children are suffering from skin diseases and unidentified illnesses affecting respiratory passages. The protesters say the incinerator is one of the key causes behind those illnesses.

  Excess capacity

  The waste incinerator in Meinung, designed to treat 110 tonnes of waste per day, treats only about 160 tonnes of household waste a week, according to the Meinung Environmental Protection Union (MEPU, 美濃環保聯盟).

  "The operation of the plant worries us," MEPU Executive-General Li Yung-lung (李永龍) told the Taipei Times. "Due to the lack of waste, it runs only two days a week."

  Li said that residents are worried about the release of dioxins when the incinerators starts up and shuts down.

  However, an operator at the plant, who wished to remain anonymous, said there was no need to question the plant's operations.

  In June last year, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials analyzed three samples collected from various locations inside the plant. The officials discovered that dioxin levels were 57, 15.5, and 17.6 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) -- more than 100 times the acceptable limit.

  This evidence, however, did not prompt government officials to react to the threat to residents' health with any sense of urgency.

  On Aug. 3, activists performed a skit accusing EPA head Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of having broken his word.

  According to Li, Hau promised Meinung residents in May last year that he would have the incinerator shut down once any excessive dioxin-emission levels were discovered.

  "Facing the results demonstrating the waste incinerator's poor performance, Hau made the excuse that his inappropriate promise was made based on false information delivered by his subordinates," Li said.

  According to Li, Hau explained to residents that existing laws prevent the EPA from shutting down the incinerator.

  Taiwan does not have dioxin-emission standards for waste incinerators, but regulations for such emissions are due to come into effect next year. The regulations will allow a maximum Toxic Equivalent for dioxins of 0.1 ng/m3 for an incinerator like the one in Meinung.

  A matter of ethics

  "We just don't understand why the government acts in accordance with rigid, unpractical laws rather than with a conscience," Li said.

  In addition, Li said, more than 3,000 tonnes of fly ash and bottom ash produced by the plant are stored at the site, creating a danger to the environment, such as groundwater pollution.

  Although the Sunny Friend Environmental Technology Co Ltd (日友公司), which operates the incinerator, promised to relocate the fly ash and bottom ash by October, residents doubt the claim and say the government has neglected its duties to ensure environmental safety.

  Most people living in Meinung are Hakka. Before they shifted their focus to the anti-incinerator movement in 2000, activists had spent almost a decade fighting construction of a reservoir near the township.

  As early as 1992, academics and environmentalists met to discuss the main reasons why the dam should not be built. They concluded that the only benefits of the dam would be to industry and not to the residents who would have to live in its shadow.

  They also produced research from engineers conducted during the Japanese occupation who found that geological conditions -- such as nearby faults and surrounding shale and sandstone formations -- made the site unsuitable for a reservoir.

  Meinung activists' anger eased on Aug. 5, 2000, when then newly elected President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said that the controversial dam would not be built during his presidency.

  Chung Ming-kuang (鍾明光) of the Meinung People's Association (美濃愛鄉協進會), who will attend the Civil Society Global Forum in late August, said that too many development projects in Taiwan were being carried out without environmental-impact assessments being conducted.

  At the forum, representatives of the association will share their experience of rallying local residents to resist questionable construction, Chung said.

  "It's time for us to link our community-based movement and our counterparts at global level," Chung said.
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