Residents of Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County, are planning to rally at Formosa Plastics Group’s petrochemical complex tomorrow to reiterate their demand for an immediate halt to operations at the fire-stricken facility. Hsu Liu-pin (許留賓), a township representative, said yesterday that an estimated 300 residents would deliver their appeal to company officials.
Besides demanding a full suspension of operations, Hsu said the protesters would demand that Formosa Plastics Group put forward an evacuation plan so that locals could keep away from danger zones should similar accidents occur again.
Hsu was referring to the two blazes that broke out at the nation’s largest petrochemical complex last week, the sixth and seventh fires there in a year.
Following Monday’s protest by residents of Taisi (台西), Baojhong (褒忠), Dongshih (東勢) and Lunbei (崙背) — all townships surrounding the complex — Hsu said the new protest would be an “ultimatum” to the company.
“If they fail to give us the answer we want, we will launch a long-term battle against them,” he said.
Hsu said the protests would become better organized, larger and more intense until the operations of the complex become impossible.
For instance, Hsu said, local residents would not rule out occupying streets surrounding the complex to enforce massive road closures in the area.
Meanwhile, environmentalists urged the government yesterday to speed up the promotion of higher-value petrochemical production in Taiwan in the wake of the fires at the complex.
Blaming the fires on gas leaks from aging pipelines, the activists said the government should help the industry shift its focus away from a scale-oriented mode of production that tends to put a heavy burden on facilities and equipment.
“It [sectional shutdown] is only healing the head when there’s a headache and healing the foot when the foot aches. We think it [the Mailiao plant] needs a thorough inspection to prevent future problems,” Taiwan Environmental Protection Union Changhua Division deputy-director Tsai Chia-yang (蔡嘉陽) said.
Tsai said the government should take the opportunity to review the policy toward the industry and shut down or shrink the scale of inappropriate plants.
“Only low-value petrochemicals can be yielded under such a practice [of employing larger-scale plants],” said Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), a professor of occupational medicine and industrial hygiene at National Taiwan University. “Taiwan cannot continue with this model because it is both uneconomical and harmful to the environment.”
Instead, Chan said, Taiwan should increase the added value of its petrochemical products at home, while working with global partners to pursue production on a massive scale.
In June, the Ministry of Economic Affairs established a goal of helping the local petrochemical industry increase its value-added rate to 20 percent by 2020.
Before that goal is met, some environmentalists said, the government should also consider the possibility of relocating part of the Mailiao operations to Greater Kaohsiung, where environmental conditions are considered more suitable for concentrated petrochemical production.
“The problems of land subsidence and water shortage are especially severe in central Taiwan,” Tsai said. “The government needs to revise its strategy for national spatial development so that resources can be allocated wisely.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and