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.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS