Environmentalists yesterday protested against a planned landfill in Tainan’s Longci District (龍崎), saying the site is prone to earthquakes and landslides, which could cause pollutants to leach into rivers and groundwater.
The Ousin landfill project was approved by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in 2003 and plans to develop 41.19 hectares to bury 18.7 million tonnes of industrial waste.
The Tainan City Government has not issued the developer a construction permit because of protests by local residents.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) reached an agreement with the Executive Yuan in 2011, stating that the development could not begin without the approval of a majority of residents.
Following a long hiatus, environmental activists yesterday urged the city government not to issue a construction permit and the EPA to revoke its approval, because new geological studies suggested the area was not suitable for the development.
Following a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on Feb. 6, the Central Geological Survey and National Taiwan University geology professor Chen Wen-shan (陳文山) said that a fault line across Longci was “very active,” Tainan Community University professor Huang Huan-chang (黃煥彰) said.
The earthquake elevated the planned site by 14cm and significant ground displacement caused by the earthquake can be found in Longci, Huang said.
Mud volcanoes found in the area suggest that it is not geologically stable, but rich in groundwater. Building a landfill in the area might cause pollutants to leak into waterways, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokeswoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
The planned site is upstream of the Niupu River (牛埔溪), a tributary of the Erren River (二仁溪), which is a major source of agricultural water for the city, Chen said.
“Although Lai made an agreement with the Executive Yuan, the city government permitted the developer to conduct soil and waterworks, which were generally understood to be pre-construction works,” Huang said.
The planned site is a badland, which is easily eroded and holds little water or vegetation, but the Council of Agriculture spent more than NT$80 million (US$2.5 million) building dams and growing vegetation, making the area a home to a variety of animal and plant species, Tainan City Environmental Protection Alliance director Huang An-tiao (黃安調) said.
“The badland in Longci is a world-class landscape and a geological classroom, and the city government should use it to develop tourism rather than pollution. It would be unreasonable to build a landfill in a disaster-prone area where the government has spent so much money carrying out conservation works,” he said.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS