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.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS