A physical altercation broke out this morning at a meeting to assess the environmental impact of Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) plan to build a fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Keelung, as fierce opposition to the proposal continues.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators raised concerns over the meeting’s procedures and the completeness of the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Discussions resulted in a clash between those in support and opposition, with opponents forcefully occupying the speaker’s podium and temporarily suspending the meeting.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Deputy Minister of Environment Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏), who chaired the meeting, announced a recess before continuing at 12:17pm.
However, the conflict continued after the meeting reconvened, leaving Taipower representatives to complete their report amid the chaos.
Today’s meeting was to review a preliminary draft of the EIA for Taipower’s plan to transform the Hsieh-ho Power Plant from an oil-fired facility into one powered by natural gas, as well as reclaim land off Keelung’s Waimushan (外木山) to build a fourth LNG terminal.
TPP legislators Chang Chi-kai (張啓楷), Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) and Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) attended the meeting.
The assessment appeared to be missing data concerning groundwater pollution, Chang said.
Furthermore, of 25 ship maneuvering tests, there was one collision and two to three occasions deemed to be high-risk, he said, adding that these issues should be detailed clearly to legislators and the public before the project is “forced through.”
Whistle-blowers have uncovered that Taipower hid data concerning soil and groundwater pollution and did not publicize this information to the EIA review committee and the public, Chen said.
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) said the meeting should be delayed until the situation had been clarified by the Keelung Bureau of Environmental Protection.
These comments provoked a clash between supporters and the opposition, who began shouting at each other before pushing and shoving.
Opponents of the project stormed the podium, shouting that the procedure was illegal.
They refused to continue the meeting, where they remained as of 10:30am.
Once the meeting resumed this afternoon, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said that Taipower had submitted a full report on Feb. 17 with no missing data, which was sent to committee members on Wednesday last week.
The report states that the project site is not classified as a soil or groundwater pollution control area.
In addition, contraventions of the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act (土壤及地下水污染整治法) are reviewed separately to EIAs and should be handled by the relevant authorities, the EPA said.
Taipower said it had already conducted an independent pre-construction investigation of soil pollution as per regulations, finding that the plant was not designated as a polluted site.
Only one site on the coast was found to have polluted soil, which was attributed to a past leakage of transformer oil, it added.
Additional reporting by Chen Chia-i
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)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS