Fine tuning the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process and granting more power to subcommittees are the first things incoming Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) minister Steven Shen (沈世宏) plans to do after taking the post today.
Speaking at a lunch with the press, Shen said he planned to include the work of the developers as well as environmental groups in EIA case subcommittees.
There needs to be a clearer division of labor between the EIA committee and case subcommittees, he said.
CONSTRUCTION
While subcommittees would judge the individual impact and consequences of construction proposals, the committee would decide whether to go ahead with construction projects based on the subcommittee’s impact analysis, he said.
Another priority of the EPA was to draft, within the next six months, the 12 policies incoming president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) environmental policy white paper, including the greenhouse gas reduction law and an energy tax law, Shen said.
In response to the media’s questions on whether the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would reopen the Suhua Freeway case, Shen said the proposal was currently in the hands of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
“The controversy is not on the freeway per se, but on the direction for development in the east ... however this would be a decision made at the Cabinet level,” he said.
FAREWELL
The arrival of new public servants means the former ones must go and a farewell party was held yesterday for the outgoing EPA Minister Winston Dang (陳重信).
Dang said the handover signified a rotation of power between parties, which was a natural and healthy thing for Taiwan’s democracy.
Quoting Winston Churchill who lost the post-war election after the Allies won World War II in 1945, Dang said: “I leave when the pub closes.”
At the farewell event, Dang listed positive environmental diplomatic work, significant river cleanups, and the stalling of major developmental projects such as the Suhua Freeway and Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co’s (國光石化科技) proposed chemical plant as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) environmental protection achievements.
“Construction developers should take into account the cost of [a long] EIA process ... though the EPA is not bestowed much power, we are professional and insistent on our values as well as the direction that our national development should follow,” he said.
Also, Taiwan’s recycling rate is possibly now the best in the world, he said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS