Environmentalists yesterday called on Taitung county commissioner candidates to sign a petition against a proposal for a photovoltaic power station to be built on the Jhihben Wetlands (知本溼地).
Initiated by the Society of Wilderness’ Taitung branch and the Wild Bird Society of Taitung, the petition aims to prevent the county government from building what might be the nation’s largest solar power station on a 161-hectare plot of land that overlaps the wetlands in the city’s Jhihben Borough (知本).
Covering nearly 20 hectares, the Jhihben Wetlands have up to 185 bird species and is designated by BirdLife International as one of the nation’s important bird and biodiversity areas under its code IBA-TW040, the groups wrote in the petition.
Photo: Chang Tsun-wei, Taipei Times
However, Jhihben is not among the nation’s protected wetlands, the Ministry of the Interior’s Web site showed.
The wetlands are owned by the Puyuma people of the Katatipul community, so the county government has contravened Article 21 of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法) by not obtaining their consent before leasing the land, they wrote in the petition.
The land should be designated as an ecological conservation zone, they said, adding that the county government should propose a new development plan after conducting surveys on ecological conditions and reaching a consensus with local communities.
After collecting 3,532 signatures for the petition as of yesterday, they have sent it to those contesting the county commissioner election, independent candidate and former county commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate and Taitung councilor Rao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), Democratic Progressive Party candidate and lawmaker Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪), and independent candidates Huang Yu-ping (黃裕斌) and Peng Chuan-kuo (彭權國), they said.
Kuang, Liu and Huang have agreed to respond to the petition, which they would do on Tuesday next week so voters in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday next week could reference their positions, the groups said.
Liu this month promised he would suspend the development project if he is elected and criticized the county government for failing to respect local Aborigines.
To become self-sufficient in energy generation by 2050, the county needs more rational and open discussion on energy projects, Rao said, calling on Liu to propose a feasible renewable development plan to achieve the policy of making Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025.
Additional reporting by CNA
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