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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS