An Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) committee decided yesterday that Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co’s plan to build an industrial park on reclaimed land in Changhua County needs to undergo a more thorough environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Second-stage EIAs, which are more detailed and have tighter requirements, are usually only required for developments deemed to pose “serious implications for the environment.”
“The proposal will seriously impact on the local environment, its nearby fish farms, ecosystem, flood regulatory system, underground water and soil and air quality. Kuokuang should also communicate with local residents more clearly regarding health risks,” the EIA case committee chairperson said after the committee voted overwhelmingly to send the proposal to a second-stage EIA.
PHOTO: CNA
The decision could mean delays for Kuokuang’s NT$800 billion development along the northern bank of the Chuoshui River (濁水溪).
Kuokuang chairman Chen Pao-lang (陳寶郎) said the company “gladly accepts the ruling” and will work hard to get a green light.
An environmentalist who wished to remain anonymous said the ruling might appear to be a “setback” for the company but was simply “a show staged to get environmental groups to relax their guard.”
“Kuokuang intentionally presented a very poor EIA proposal today so that it would have to enter the second stage. However, the company already has a plan in hand to pass the second EIA. It has completed all the data and studies necessary for a second stage,” the environmentalist said.
Supporters and opponents spoke before the EIA case committee during the four-hour meeting.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) Changhua Chapter chairman Tsai Chia-yang (蔡嘉陽) said that the reclaimed land — a project ordered by former Changhua County commissioner Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) — had been undertaken to alleviate severe subsidence problems in the area.
“More land will need to be reclaimed to build the industrial park and seaport, but that will worsen the subsidence instead of alleviating it,” he said.
TEPU Changhua Chapter director Shih Yueh-ying (施月英) said a consensus had been reached during the National Energy Conference in April to make the nation’s petrochemical industry meet Taiwan’s energy needs without producing products for export.
“I would be okay with the idea of reclaiming land for survival, but reclaiming land for a sunset industry like petrochemicals is unacceptable,” she said.
Former EIA panelist Lee Ken-cheng (李根政) turned to the health risks the project poses to area residents, saying that while local residents had high hopes the development would bring economic prosperity, they could be disappointed.
“The factory will only bring economic prosperity to a handful of local government officials and Kuokuang’s management. The number of jobs may not be as high as local residents think. CPC Corp, Taiwan’s Kaohsiung plant only has 1,700 employees,” Lee said.
“The proposed plant could even hire foreign labor for up to 50 percent of its work force, which means local residents would not really benefit,” he said.
Residents had not considered the health risks and environmental costs, he said.
“Near the Sixth Naphtha Cracker plant in Yunlin County, the cancer rate for females is 15 times the national average,” Lee said.
“In 1987, former Ilan County commissioner Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) rejected Formosa Plastic Group’s proposal to build the Sixth Naphtha Cracker in his county, and now Ilan has become a tourism hotspot. In contrast, Yunlin County is the poorest county in the country and it has the nation’s highest cancer rate,” he said.
Local officials disagreed.
“We care about the environment, too. The subsidence problems can be resolved by the plant’s construction,” Changhua County Councilor Hung Ho-lu said.
“I urge EIA panelists not to say no to someone who is willing to invest in our land,” he said.
Tien-tou Village (田頭) chief Tsai Chi-rui (蔡啟瑞) said that 98 percent of local residents want the industrial park.
“Young people in our village leave because they cannot find jobs,” Tsai said. “You say that Ilan doesn’t have cancer, but didn’t Chen Ding-nan die of cancer?”
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