The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday approved a Hsinchu Science Park Administration Bureau plan for a new site for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), despite concerns about energy and water consumption.
The bureau, which is managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology, proposed an expansion of a TSMC branch site in Hsinchu County’s Baoshan Township (寶山), south of the science park’s headquarters in Hsinchu City.
The new site would accommodate TSMC’s 2-nanometer wafer foundry.
The area to be developed would be 89.84 hectares, construction is estimated to require 60 months and 2,500 job opportunities would be created, bureau data showed.
The plan was put in front of the EPA’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) assembly after it had been through four EIA committee reviews since 2019.
New Power Party Hsinchu County Councilor Lien Yu-ting (連郁婷) said that the semiconductor industry is crucial for Taiwan’s economy, but its high consumption of electricity and water cannot be overlooked.
The nation earlier this year faced its most severe water shortage in a century, highlighting the importance of water supply management, Lien said.
It is local residents who have to endure the environmental costs created by manufacturers, she said.
The bureau must promise that the interests of local residents would not be sacrificed to meet the demands of the park’s manufacturers in a water shortage, Lien said.
She also asked the bureau to clarify its waste disposal plans, as the county does not have a garbage incinerator and there have been many cases of illegal dumping.
The bureau has promised that its water supply would be 100 percent sourced from recycled water by 2030.
During yesterday’s review, the bureau offered a more detailed roadmap to the goal, saying that recycled water would be 10 percent of its supply by 2025, 25 percent by 2026, 50 percent by 2027, 75 percent by 2028 and 100 percent by 2030.
Moreover, its energy supply would be 100 percent from renewable sources by 2050, it said, a pledge endorsed by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Chuan-neng (林全能).
The Ministry of Economic Affairs would work with the Ministry of the Interior and the science ministry to ensure stable supplies of renewable energy and recycled water, Lin said.
It is laudable that the government has pledged a time frame for its recycled water and renewable energy plans, a milestone in the nation’s EIA history, Environmental Rights Foundation research fellow Hsu Po-jen (許博任) said.
However, TSMC’s 2-nanometer manufacturing would require a vast amount of water and electricity, creating huge environmental burdens on local residents, Hsu said.
The EPA should set up a task force to determine whether the developers would be able to realize their promises, he said.
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