Dozens of residents from Greater Kaohsiung’s Dalinpu (大林蒲) area staged a rally in front of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday, protesting the South Star Plan (南星計畫) development project, before the start of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) general assembly meeting in the afternoon.
The South Star Plan’s first phase development project, a 46.64 hectare area of reclaimed land in Greater Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) that has been targeted for development into a yachting industry park, was among the 14 cases to be discussed during the meeting.
“You will be overcome with sadness if you come and visit the area we live in,” a borough chief surnamed Huang (黃) told committee members and the project developer. “For so many years, the land has been filled with various types of foul industrial waste, including medical waste.”
Photo: Liu Li-jen, Taipei Times
“If the project is approved, we will become like the filling in a sandwich biscuit, squeezed in a small area between several industrial areas, including state-run refiner CPC, Taiwan, state-owned integrated steelmaker China Steel, and state-owned Taiwan Power,” he said, adding that many local residents have already become sick from air pollution.
A local resident in her 60s, Chen Yu-hsi (陳玉西), said she was furious that the area that she has lived in for more than 60 years used to have a beautiful coastline and quality farmland, but is now occupied by high-polluting industries.
Moreover, the last stretch of coastline may become developed by the yachting industry, leaving them with “no more place to breathe fresh air,” Chen said.
A member of a local culture protection group said that although major development projects are always touted as creating job opportunities in rural areas, they have instead created industries where working conditions are often “highly polluted, very dangerous, with long working hours and low salaries,” so young people are still eager to leave the area to seek employment elsewhere.
Other concerns include sediment from the ocean near the landfill area that may be contaminated with heavy metal substances and the pollution that may be caused by the yachting industry.
The project failed to pass the review yesterday afternoon, with the assembly citing an incomplete evaluation of the risks involved.
Several other cases that were discussed during the meeting yesterday also faced protests and opposing opinions from local residents and civic groups.
Residents from Yunlin and Penghu expressed concern that Taiwan Power’s plans to build a submarine cable between Yunlin County and Penghu County might lead to overpumping of groundwater, which might destabilize the foundation of houses nearby. They were also concerned about the negative effects of long-term exposure to high levels of electromagnetic radiation.
Meanwhile, residents from Miaoli County’s Yuanli Township (苑裡) protested against wind turbines being erected too close to their homes, saying it could pose a health risk.
They said that the wind energy company included in the project did not communicate with local residents before beginning its construction work.
Civic environmentalist groups expressed concern about the environmental monitoring project at Changhua County’s Changpin Industrial Park (彰濱工業區), questioning why a few important items were not included, such as the soil, groundwater and the rare species of Chinese white dolphin off the coastline near the park.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS