The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has approved an environmental impact assessment for a project to build a third runway at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
An EPA committee meeting on March 25 approved the assessment after the airport’s operator, Taoyuan International Airport Corp, promised to bolster disaster prevention and control measures, and hold one aircraft rescue or firefighting drill every year, as the planned runway is close to an oil storage facility operated by CPC Corp, Taiwan.
The airport company also promised to conserve more than 1,000 trees in the project area by transplanting them to a different location when construction starts and returning them to the site later.
However, several environmental protection groups issued a joint statement saying that the committee passed the project without conducting a thorough assessment of risks posed by the oil depot or relocation fees for land expropriation.
It is estimated that 2,599 hectares of land would have to be expropriated for the project and an estimated 6,190 households with more than 16,000 residents would be forced to relocate, the statement said.
The groups said they do not rule out filing an appeal to seek an administrative remedy.
The company said that the project is part of the airport’s efforts to expand its facilities and upgrade its services in accordance with the government’s Taoyuan Aerotropolis project and its goal to boost the local economy.
As the airport is the nation’s main gateway, there is an urgent need for a third runway, it said.
Once a third runway is built in the airport’s north, the runway in the south would be used less frequently, reducing air and noise pollution in the area, the company said.
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