Environmentalists and carbon-emitting companies clashed over the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) proposed regulations on a carbon capture and storage (CCS) site yesterday, as environmentalists criticized a proposal by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to deregulate CCS developments that hold less than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The EPA yesterday held a public hearing after it announced a proposal to require all development of CCS sites to undergo an environmental review regardless of the scale of development, as leakage of stored carbon dioxide remains a risk to geological stability and underground water systems.
CCS is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide and depositing it in a storage site, usually an underground geological formation, where stored gases cannot easily re-enter the atmosphere.
Taipower officials expressed opposition to the proposed compulsory environmental assessment, saying that the EPA should approve pilot CCS projects and projects that plan to inject less than 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide without environmental review as per EU regulations.
Taipower said it is time consuming to conduct geological surveys and develop storage sites, while environmental reviews would further complicate the process and discourage developers.
China Steel Corp representatives said that small-scale CCS projects would not significantly affect the environment and should thereby be exempt from environmental review.
However, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union director Jennifer Nien (粘麗玉) said that research is yet to be done to ascertain whether the nation’s geological features are ideal for long-term carbon dioxide storage.
The government and businesses should not bulldoze any legislation relating to CCS until proper assessments are made, Nien said.
Exempting smaller operations would prompt developers to circumvent environmental review by lowering the capacity of planned sites, Nien said, adding that the EPA should uphold its policy to ensure that all CCS projects undergo environmental review.
CCS simply buries carbon dioxide instead of actually reducing carbon emissions, she said, adding that CCS should not be included in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) as a carbon reduction option, which would only encourage energy intensive industries to continue using fossil fuels and evade their responsibility to reduce emissions.
Referencing an outgassing of naturally sequestered carbon dioxide in Lake Nyos in Cameroon, which killed about 1,700 people in 1986, Nien said that carbon dioxide stored artificially might cause similar disasters.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and