The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ latest proposal for a proposed third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal off the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) yesterday failed to make it out of the first environmental impact assessment (EIA) committee meeting at the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
The ministry said that if the project cannot go ahead as planned, “13.7 billion kilowatt-hours of power per year, equivalent to 5 million tonnes of coal,” would be missing from Taiwan’s power generation capacity.
That would set Taiwan’s decarbonization targets back, the ministry said, while environmental groups said that the proposal is still too disruptive to the fragile algal reef habitat off the coast of Datan.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Although some members of the committee, which was composed of field experts, supported the project, the committee’s conclusion after a public hearing and a closed-door discussion was that “more information is required” from CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), which was instructed to clarify 14 points before it can hope to execute the project.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生), who said he was not disappointed by the result, promised to return to the proposal “in good faith” to see whether it could be “adjusted to accommodate the concerns of the committee members.”
“There were no expectations that this would be a swift process,” Tseng said. “We are aware that the assessments take time and, indeed, it would be unprecedented for the EPA to give this project the green light before December’s referendums.”
A referendum on the project is to be held on Dec. 18.
Rescue Datan’s Algal Reefs Alliance convener Pan Chong-cheng (潘忠政) criticized the ministry for holding a news conference before the committee meeting to underline the importance of the project to Taiwan’s energy security.
“They were trying to influence the outcome of the committee,” Pan said ahead of the meeting, calling on the government to hold public hearings.
Tseng told the news conference that the ministry “had a duty to speak out” due to the terminal’s importance to the nation’s energy transition policy, which would lower the amount of power generated from coal-fired plants from 40 percent to 30 percent and increase the amount generated from LNG-powered plants from 40 percent to 50 percent.
“I wish that environmental groups would look at the big picture when it comes to protecting the environment,” Tseng said, adding that LNG, although a fossil fuel, releases about half the greenhouse gasses of coal.
Without the proposed third terminal, Taiwan’s two existing terminals could not receive enough LNG to supply the Datan power plant, he said.
“Not only Taiwan’s decarbonization goals, but our plans for energy stability would be affected,” he said.
Although alternative sites had been proposed for the terminal, Tseng said they would have set the project back by at least a decade.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
RSS