Lawmakers and environmentalists yesterday called on Premier William Lai (賴清德) to scrap a CPC Corp, Taiwan project to construct a third liquefied natural gas terminal, saying that the ecosystems at the planned site should not be sacrificed for the Cabinet’s ill-advised energy policies.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and New Power Party (NPP) legislators at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei urged the government not to give the green light to the propsed terminal on the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音).
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) committee on July 3 rejected the utility’s revised project plans.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) plans to re-evaluate the committee’s decision at a meeting today.
CPC is refusing to build the terminal at an alternative site because it wants to use the land in the Guantang Industrial Park that it purchased from Tung Ting Gas Corp (東鼎) for NT$2.28 billion (US$74.3 million), Taoyuan Local Union director-general Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政) said.
The nation’s demand for natural gas is to start declining after 2022, so it is not worth building the terminal and sacrificing the ecosystem, Pan added.
Some experts have advised the utility to build the terminal at the Port of Taipei, while some CPC personnel have said they cannot delay the project due to pressure from high-ranking officials, KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said.
NPP Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) called on Lai not to manipulate the EIA process to cover up the Cabinet’s ill-advised energy policies, adding that EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) should protect the environment instead of just following his boss’ instructions.
Council of Agriculture Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) should designate the coast as a landscape protected under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said, while urging President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to remember her 2013 promise to protect the reefs.
CPC has cut the development area from 232 to 23 hectares and proposed plans to avoid affecting endangered species, which is “certainly beneficial” for mitigating the potential impact, the EPA said.
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As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
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