Concern over dolphins prompted the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Wednesday to reject an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a Port of Taichung expansion project.
A review committee said that the developer, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), must submit a new plan that would sufficiently protect a habitat of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin near the port.
The EPA in 2018 ordered the “two-phase EIA review” because the initial review ruled that the project needs to be subjected to additional scrutiny because the dolphins are known to use waters close to the construction zone.
In a report to the committee, Taipower said that a proposed liquefied natural gas pier at the dock — consisting of an embankment and other installations — is necessary to safely offload fuel from ships.
Taipower said that the dolphin habitat is outside the boundary of the proposed construction zone.
The dolphins are active at depths of 21m to 25m, meaning that a proposed breakwater would not disrupt their migratory movements, Taipower said.
Committee members said that the company’s report failed to answer questions that were asked of it or respond meaningfully to the issues the committee posed.
Twenty Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins are known to inhabit the zone, including five full-grown animals and three juveniles that live exclusively in the area, the committee said, citing scientific reports.
The presence of the animals requires the developer to take reasonable precautions to protect their habitat and make provisions for rescuing wounded or stranded dolphins, plans Taipower failed to present, it said.
Taipower must also assess the extent to which the expansion project would increase erosion and liquefaction of the Dadu River Estuary Wildlife Refuge, increasing geological risks, the committee said.
The company must make the improvements the committee seeks to resubmit its construction plan, it said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas