Environmental groups yesterday staged a protest in Taichung against CPC Corp, Taiwan’s gas terminal expansion project, calling on the government not to pursue its policy to replace coal with gas at the expense of critically endangered white dolphins.
The project was proposed in line with the government’s energy transition policy to increase the nation’s gas-fired power proportion to 50 percent while reducing coal-fired power to 20 percent of power generation by 2030.
It requires more than 60 hectares of land reclamation added to the existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Taichung, with eight 180,000-kiloliter gas storage tanks to be constructed.
Photo: Chang Hsuan-tse, Taipei Times
Environmental advocates are worried the land reclamation could destroy white dolphin habitats near the port, arguing that Taiwan’s LNG capacity would soon surpass estimated demand and the expansion was unnecessary.
Government Watch Alliance executive director Hsu Hsin-hsin (許心欣) said the white dolphin population in Taiwan has declined to less than 50 and their living space is threatened by several proposed development projects at the port, including CPC Corp’s LNG terminal expansion project and Taiwan Power Co’s LNG terminal construction project.
Such projects should have collectively undergone an environmental impact assessment review to properly judge their combined impact on ecosystems at the port, but they were evaluated separately, she said.
Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union standing director Kuo Chia-wen (郭佳雯) said the area is not just a “corridor” that white dolphins pass through, but a critical habitat for this endemic subspecies of Taiwan to breed and rear their young.
A video released by filmmaker Chien Yu-chun (簡毓群) showed that 14 white dolphins were spotted on Feb. 6 in waters slated for land reclamation under the terminal expansion project.
Noises and vibration produced by land reclamation activities would seriously affect the survival of white dolphins, Kuo said.
Society of Wilderness member Chien Chien-wen (錢建文) said LNG facilities could soon become stranded assets, given that LNG is transitional energy and the ultimate goal is to achieve net zero by 2050.
The government should promote net-zero transition by reducing energy-intensive industries’ energy consumption instead of sacrificing marine ecosystems and fishery resources, he said, adding that the port’s terminal expansion project and other related projects should be suspended.
Changhua Environmental Protection Union researcher Lin Cheng-han (林政翰) cited the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ estimates as showing that demand for LNG storage would peak at 3.5 million kiloliters in 2035 and then decrease in accordance with the 2050 net-zero roadmap.
The three operating LNG terminals, their proposed expansion and the four new terminals proposed to be built would add up to 7.85 million kiloliters of LNG storage capacity, more than twice the estimated maximum demand, he said.
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