The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday said that it received an application from Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to scrap environmental impact assessment (EIA) approvals for the Shenao power plant.
The original Shenao plant in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳) was decommissioned in 2007 and demolished in 2011, but a proposal by the state-run utility to build a new plant at the site passed an EIA in 2006.
While the plan also passed an EIA in May, Premier William Lai (賴清德) last week said that the project would be shelved, given that the nation’s power supply would be ensured after CPC Corp, Taiwan’s third liquefied natural gas terminal passed an EIA on Oct. 8.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Monday said the ministry would revoke the Shenao EIAs within two months.
However, reports have said that the Democratic Progressive Party government is taking advantage of the Shenao issue to boost its election prospects in New Taipei City and might change its attitude after the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.
EPA Department of Comprehensive Planning Deputy Director-General Wu Pei-yu (吳珮瑜) said that the ministry yesterday forwarded Taipower’s application to revoke the Shenao EIA approvals from 2006 and this year.
The EPA would start procedures in line with Article 123-4 of the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) and on Tuesday would send officials to examine the site, Wu said.
After that, the agency would formally announce its decision to revoke the approvals and send documents to notify the ministry and the utility, she said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
RSS