People First Party (PFP) legislators yesterday appealed to lawmakers from other opposition parties and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to put aside their differences and jointly stipulate special statutes on the restoration of the area in Greater Kaohsiung affected by last week’s gas pipeline explosions.
The Executive Yuan could start drafting a chemical disasters response act to integrate the government’s resources to rescue people hurt in such incidents, the PFP lawmakers said.
PFP Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪) told a press conference in Taipei that he hoped Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) could brief legislators on how the government responded to the disaster and also review its actions in addressing the situation.
Photo: Liu Hsin-der, Taipei Times
Lee said he might propose a third plenary session to review the special statutes.
“The Legislative Yuan will do everything to help the draft the special statutes,” Lee said. “We hope that factories that manufacture chemical products can learn how to handle disasters caused by chemicals.”
Lee said that gas pipeline issues have not been addressed for three or four decades, and the regulations should be thoroughly evaluated.
PFP Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) said the nation does not have an agency similar to the US’ Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has personnel professionally trained to handle chemical hazards and standardized operating procedures to deal with related disasters.
The government also lacks a chain of command to direct and monitor such hazards, she said.
She said that local governments should establish agencies to deal with chemical hazards and employ trained professionals to oversee disaster management, adding that firefighters need to be educated more on the nature of different chemicals to make correct decisions and reduce casualties.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Wu Yi-cheng (吳益政) said that the central and local governments should work together to help petrochemical companies to relocate so that residents can feel safe.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) held a separate press conference in Taipei, calling for the formation of a legislative subcommittee to investigate the explosions.
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘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
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
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
RSS