Environmental advocates yesterday urged the Ministry of Environment (MOENV) to suspend a land reclamation project by Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) at Taichung port and put it through a second-stage environmental impact assessment (EIA) review.
The Taichung port project has generated backlash from environmental advocates due to its impact on surrounding habitats of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, sometimes called white or pink dolphins.
The project was exempted from EIA review when it was proposed in 2022, because it was judged to be “within existing breakwaters of the port,” and lawfully qualified for the exemption.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
That judgement was made by the developer, TIPC’s Taichung branch, Government Watch Alliance executive director Hsu Hsin-hsin (許心欣) told a news conference at the legislature yesterday, citing documents issued by the former Environmental Protection Administration (now the MOENV).
The ministry said it had received an official letter from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) — the authority responsible for the project — confirming that the project site was within existing breakwaters.
A representative of TIPC’s Taichung branch said the project site is “indeed within two existing breakwaters,” which he showed were running perpendicular to the shore rather than parallel to the shore.
The port is an area of siltation, as up to 4 million tonnes of sand per year drifts from the Dajia River (大甲溪), Daan River (大安溪) and Dadu River (大肚溪) to the area, he said.
Land reclamation is a relatively environmentally friendly approach to dispose of such massive quantities of sand, the representative said, adding the port’s shoreline would have been 2km or 3km seaward were it not for similar land reclamation efforts in the area over the past half-century.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) cited the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ seawall management regulations as specifying that the “inside” of a seawall or a breakwater is “the side near the land.”
The project site should not have been considered within breakwaters, as the water is not enclosed by the breakwaters, she said.
The port’s sand removal efforts and the project’s EIA review should be discussed seperately, Tsai said, calling on the branch not to dispose of the sand in dolphin habitats.
Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union standing director Kuo Chia-wen (郭佳雯) said land reclamation would destroy local marine food chains, increase seawater turbidity and expose dolphins to higher health risks of heavy metals in water.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) asked that the MOENV withdraw the official document granting the exemption of an EIA review to the project.
The MOENV agreed to review the project and reconsider the previous decision of exemption within two weeks of the MOTC providing evidence for review.
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