New Taipei snubs environmental study in project

The China Post
New Taipei snubs environmental study in project
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2013/09/05/388117/New-Taipei.htm
By Joy Lee ,The China Post
September 5, 2013

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- New Taipei yesterday announced that construction of the Tamsui-Taipei expressway will continue despite a court revoking its environmental impact assessment (EIA).

The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled to revoke the approved EIA conducted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on June 22, 2011 for the construction of the expressway.

The New Taipei City Government said that the construction will continue and more information will be provided for the EPA's reference to allow it to propose another EIA.

EPA Minister Shen Shih-hung said that he has not received the court verdict yet, so he cannot comment on this issue.

Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏), the director-general of the EPA Comprehensive Planning Department, said that after the EPA receives the court verdict, the officials will talk to lawyers about whether an appeal should be filed or another EIA be conducted.

Environmentalists Wang Chung-ming and Tsui Tsu-hsin, who filed the appeal, said that the EPA should follow the court's instructions and not file an appeal.

Wang and Tsui said that the New Taipei Government should stop expressway construction and land expropriation and come up with another development plan for the Tamsui area that will also protect the environment.

Chang Yu-yin, the lawyer who represents the environmental protection organizations, said that the expressway will be built along the Mangrove Nature Reserve, but the expressway is less than 1 meter away from the reserve, which places the mangrove reserve at great risk.

“The verdict shows that the judge values the idea of environmental protection,” Chang said.

Some Tamsui residents, however, were not satisfied with the court's verdict.

A resident surnamed Liu said that the expressway could be the solution to the severe traffic jams during rush hours and weekends.

“I am stuck in traffic jams every day and on weekends,” Liu said, “and with this verdict, there will be no solution to this problem.”

According to New Taipei City Government, the Tamsui-Taipei expressway, which is scheduled to be finished in 2016, is a 4.7-kilometer-long expressway that will be built along the Tamsui riverbank and the Mangrove Nature Reserve and National Wetland.

Local residents filed a petition to the Cabinet's Petitions and Appeals Committee but the petition was denied. With help from environmentalists and lawyers, they filed an administrative litigation to the Taipei High Administrative Court, which led to the its decision to revoke the EIA of the expressway construction.

According to New Taipei City Government, housing prices of the Tamsui area depend on the expressway construction because more and more people are moving to or visiting the Tamsui area, causing traffic jams during rush hours and weekends. Light rail construction has begun in the Tamsui area and is expected to be completed in 2018.

Construction Could Continue: Lawyer

A lawyer said that even though the EIA is the key point to launching a construction project, as long as the development activity permission is still valid, the construction could still be carried out.

According to the lawyer, the court's verdict to revoke the EIA will cause a problem for the government in terms of the construction of the expressway, and it is up to the EPA to decide if the EIA should remain valid or to follow the court's verdict and revoke the EIA.

Environmentalists hail ‘Tambei’ ruling

Taipei Times
Environmentalists hail 'Tambei' ruling
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/09/05/2003571385/2

ROAD RAGE:Local residents and environmentalists vigorously oppose the Tambei Expressway project, as it would encroach on the Mangrove Forest Preservation Area

By Jason Pan  /  Staff writer, with CNA

Environmental groups yesterday hailed as an important victory a decision by the Taipei High Administrative Court rejecting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the proposed Tamsui-Taipei expressway construction project in New Taipei City (新北市).

Although the ruling can still be appealed, environmental activists were happy with the court’s decision and called on the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to withdraw the EIA and not appeal.

The New Taipei City Government had proposed building a "Tambei Expressway" (淡北道路 Tamsui-Taipei Expressway) along the eastern shore of the Tamsui River.

At present, Highway No. 2 is the only major artery linking Taipei to New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) and the northeast coastal area. It is clogged with heavy traffic on weekday rush hours, as well as on weekends and holidays.

The road runs along the narrow Zhuwei Corridor (竹圍走廊), which is geographically confined by the Tamsui River to the west and the Tatun Mountains to the east. The Taipei MRT Tamsui Line runs in this corridor, from Zhuwei MRT Station northward to Tamsui MRT Station.

Local residents and environmentalists vigorously opposed the expressway project, as it would encroach on the nearby Mangrove Forest Preservation Area.

After the EPA convened meetings to evaluate the project’s environmental impact, the EIA committee announced its conditional approval for the expressway in July 2011.

However, local residents Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) and Chen Fu-chi (陳福齊) organized a petition in August of that year seeking to nullify the EIA report on the grounds the project would negatively impact an important and sensitive natural environment and therefore it required a second-stage EIA.

However, the Executive Yuan’s Petitions and Appeals Committee rejected their petition in February last year.

Wang and members of the Green Party Taiwan filed a lawsuit with the Taipei High Administrative Court in April last year.

Local residents called yesterday’s decision a major victory.

"We hope every EIA case in the future can be evaluated and scrutinized in a thorough and prudent manner. It must be done with participation and input by local residents to protect their natural environment," Wang said.

Other residents were delighted with the decision, saying justice had been served, but New Taipei City Councilor Tsai Chin-hsien (蔡錦賢) was disappointed.

"We have wasted three or four years already. With the construction set to start, the court decision has negated years of effort by many people," Tsai said.

"The court did not respect the wishes of local residents. It is an unreasonable ruling, as the court does not understand the suffering of local residents due to frequent traffic jams," the independent councilor added.

EPA Department of Comprehensive Planning head Yeh Chun-hung (葉俊宏) said his office would study the court judgement and would appeal if there is a possibility of overturning the decision.

He said the EPA could return to a first-stage EIA or go into second-stage EIA, pending its appraisal of the judgement.

Meanwhile, Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said the city government respected the court ruling and would not begin construction unless the project passes an EIA.

The New Taipei City Government, on the other hand, said it would continue construction and would provide the EPA with more information as a basis for a second-stage EIA.

Additional reporting by Lai Hsiao-tung and Wu Liang-yi

Groups protest Soil and Water Act amendment

Groups protest Soil and Water Act amendment
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/08/17/2003569911

SLIPPERY SLOPEIf the amendment is passed, about 1.72 million hectares of reservoir catchment area would be opened for development, the groups said

By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Several environmental organizations yesterday filed a petition with the Control Yuan, asking it to investigate the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau’s proposal to amend the Soil and Water Conservation Act (水土保持法), which would loosen the restrictions on development in reservoirs’ catchment areas.

Before submitting their appeal, the representatives from 40 civic groups held up photos of mudslide disasters and rivers filled with mud, and shouted slogans.

The act was passed in 1994, stipulating that all development activities are prohibited in designated special soil and water conservation areas within reservoir catchment areas.

The proposed amendment would reduce the development prohibited areas to areas that “need special conservation,” restricting the prohibited development activities from all types to only four, and granting local governments the authority to alter designated special soil and water conservation areas.

Groups fear the proposed amendment would put nearly all reservoir catchment areas at risk of pollution.

According to the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau’s statistics, there are more than 100 reservoirs in the country and the combined size of reservoir catchment areas is about 2.05 million hectares, accounting for about 78 percent of the nation’s mountainous areas.

If the amendment is passed, about 1.72 million hectares of reservoir catchment area would no longer be under the strict protection of being designated as soil and water conservation areas, the groups said.

Taiwan Water Conservation Alliance spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said the proposed amendment will likely turn most of the reservoir catchment areas into ordinary hillside land, and development activities in these areas may threaten water quality and land safety.

Hsu Chan-shuan (徐嬋娟), who leads the Flood Management Watch, said that following a typhoon in 2006 that brought large amounts of mud into the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) and caused residents in Taoyuan to be left without clean water for a number of days, lawmakers at the time swiftly passed budgets of NT$25 billion (US$832 million) for the Shihmen Reservoir and NT$116 billion for other easily flooded areas to improve water and soil conservation.

“However, if this amendment is passed these reservoirs will see further development activities and the government will have to spend even more money to make up for the disasters caused by them,” she said.

“The government should amend laws to protect the public, but the proposed amendment is in fact loosening laws,” Green Party Taiwan member Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) said. “Basic needs, such as water and food, should not be sacrificed for economic benefits from development activities… and the government should not have to spend more money to make up for the destruction caused by disasters.”

Opening up areas for development means more trees will be cut down, resulting in landslides after heavy rain, Taiwan Tree Protection Alliance convener Chang An-chi (張安琪) said.

“The government needs to ensure people’s right to life. We want to drink clean water, not waste water,” she said, adding that companies that benefit from the development activities are unlikely to maintain a healthy balance between protecting the environment and maximizing their economic benefits, “while the public will have to endure the consequences of polluted water and a damaged environment.”

Government panned for nuclear waste decisions

Government panned for nuclear waste decisions
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/07/30/2003568511 
Tue, Jul 30, 2013
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Before meeting with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) in Taipei yesterday afternoon, members of local civic groups living near nuclear waste storage sites said that they are dissatisfied with the government’s unilateral decisionmaking process and urged it to have real negotiations with the public.

The groups — from New Taipei City (新北市), Lanyu (蘭嶼, also known as Orchid Island), and Taitung and Pintung counties — said in front of the Executive Yuan that during their first meeting with Jiang on April 3, he promised to establish a negotiation forum comprised of government and civic representatives to discuss policies for final disposal of radioactive spent fuel.

However, Taitung Anti-Nuclear Alliance Secretary-General Su Ya-ting (蘇雅婷) said there were no communications regarding the forum for several months afterward, and when the alliance finally received a notice for yesterday’s meeting, its agenda had already been set.

“We feel as if the government has already decided the policies and we are only being asked to come and endorse their plans,” Su said, while showing a copy of the meeting agenda.

“Moreover, while Minister Without Portfolio Steven Chen (陳士魁) was assigned as the forum’s convener, he has been transferred to another position, leaving us even more concerned about whether the forum can really function,” she added.

Sinan Mavivo, secretary-general of the Tao Foundation, said people living in Lanyu are very concerned about the low-level nuclear waste which has been stored on the island since 1981, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs has kept delaying its removal and refused to reconvene its steering committee for the Lanyu storage site’s relocation.

“We ask the government, Taiwan Power Co and the ministry to remove the nuclear waste immediately,” she said. “We don’t need them to talk about formulating a new schedule for relocation and related inspections; we just ask them to remove it now.”

Green Party Taiwan member Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) said the government has failed to finalize locations for building permanent nuclear waste repositories for the past seven years, but has kept using the matter as an excuse to postpone the promised removal of nuclear waste from Lanyu.

The party urged the government to decouple the two issues and deal with the Lanyu storage facility’s relocation immediately.

Northern Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance chairperson Hsu Fu-hsiung (許富雄) said a dry cask storage facility for highly radioactive spent fuel waste from the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市), is due to go into testing next month, but the alliance fears that salt corrosion may cause radioactive leaks because the storage site is near the ocean.

Although Taipower has claimed the site is only for temporary storage, local residents are concerned that once spent fuel rods are placed in storage, there may be no likelihood of Taipower moving them to a final disposal site, Hsu said. He added that residents should be allowed to decide whether they want the facility in the area via a referendum.

“It is a fact that disposal of nuclear waste is an intractable problem in Taiwan, so we want to tell the government that while the problem remains unresolved, it shouldn’t allow nuclear power plants to operate, as they are adding to disposal problems,” Wang said.

Flash mobs protest Dapu demolitions

The Taipei Times: Flash mobs protest Dapu demolitions
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/07/20/2003567731
By Loa Iok-sin and Peng Chien-li / Staff reporters

Following the forced demolition of four houses in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔) on Thursday, protesters have staged several flash-mob protests in Miaoli and Taipei.

Around a dozen protesters turned up in front of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship election campaign headquarters in Taipei a little before 8pm last night, and began throwing eggs at the building while chanting, “You tear down the Dapu houses today, we will tear down the government tomorrow!”

By the time police arrived on the scene the egg-throwing had ended. Nevertheless, two protesters, Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) and Wu Hsueh-chan (吳學展), were detained and charged with violation of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).

The police declined to say whether they had evidence proving the two’s involvement in the egg-throwing protest.

The pair were still at the police station as of press time.

About half an hour before the protest, a larger crowd demonstrated outside the KMT headquarters in Taipei and clashed with police as they threw eggs at the building.

Meanwhile, in Miaoli, four protesters staged a surprise protest outside Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung’s (劉政鴻) residence in Houlong Township (後龍) early yesterday morning.

“Rise up against the tyranny of Liu Cheng-hung that tore down the Dapu houses, Taiwanese!” The four shouted as they carried five large cans of yellow and white paint while running toward Liu’s house after arriving on scooters at around 6:20am.

Security guards outside the house scuffled with the four in a bid to try to stop them, and paint was splashed on the ground.

Hearing the commotion, Liu looked down from a second-floor balcony, and called the protesters “shameless.”

The quartet were arrested and charged with damaging property.

Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a native of Miaoli and a National Tsing Hua University student who was one the protesters, said they wanted Liu to know what it was like to have his house threatened.

The other three protesters were National Taiwan University students.

On Thursday, after the forced demolition in the morning, farming activist Yang Ru-men (楊儒門) and long-time social activist Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) were arrested at around 6:30pm for trying to throw paint at the Presidential Office in protest at the forced demolition.

Earlier yesterday, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) was confronted by a group of students shouting, “You will be punished for breaking promises!” as he attended an award ceremony in Taipei.

Later, in response to media inquiries, Wu he said he was “surprised” by Thursday’s demolition, but insisted it was within the county government’s authority to handle the case.

“I was quite surprised by the county government’s move. However, the county government handled the incident in accordance with the law. How can we overstep our authority and interfere with local affairs?” he said.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih

Tree removal effort triggers clash

Tree removal effort triggers clash
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/06/22/2003565397

GREEN GUARDIANS:Activists tied themselves together in an attempt to stop workers from digging up trees on the campus of a New Taipei City school

By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Clashes broke out between “tree protection” volunteers and police at New Taipei Municipal Chiang-Tsui Junior High School yesterday morning after construction workers arrived to remove trees for a construction project on the campus.

The plan to remove 32 trees from the school to build a swimming pool and underground parking lot has been criticized strongly by nearby residents, teachers and environmentalists, who say the campus’ “sea of trees” is the only piece of green with trees in the neighborhood.

Twenty-six of the trees are to be moved to another park, while six would be replanted in the area after the construction work is completed.

“Tree protection” volunteers have been tree-sitting since March, after activists said construction workers were using what they considered inappropriate methods, including over-trimming, to remove the trees. Environmentalist Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆) staged a sit-in in one of the trees for 12 days before being taken down by the police in late March.

Screaming and yelling was heard yesterday as several volunteers tried to block a truck from entering the campus by standing in front of it. Scuffles then broke out when volunteers who had tied themselves together to protect the trees were forcibly removed by police officers.

Shouting “Disrespect for judiciary, damaging the rule of law,” Green Party Taiwan members Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) and Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘), and a volunteer surnamed Chen (陳) were taken away by police for allegedly “committing malfeasance in office.”

The volunteers said removing the old trees in hot weather and in a rough manner could kill them.

Pan Han-chiang said one of eight trees that were removed earlier has died, while seven others were seriously damaged, which is why the volunteers were so determined to protect the remaining trees.

The New Taipei City’s (新北市) Public Works Department said in a press release that it was conducting the tree removal effort like “marrying off daughter” (嫁女兒) in an effort to improve the environment.

It said the operation was being conducted with the help of specialists.

It said it had reevaluated the tree removal plan to ensure appropriate protection measures were being taken, and that records would be kept during the process.

The plan is to finish the operation in five days and the public is welcome to oversee the process, the department said.

Police remove man from tree after 12 day protest

Police remove man from tree after 12 day protest
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/04/09/2003559187
By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

After 12 days of “tree-sitting” by environmentalist Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆) to protect trees at New Taipei City’s (新北市) Chiang-Tsui Junior High School, Pan was yesterday forcibly removed from the tree, while two other activists were taken into custody.

Pan climbed up a tree on March 28 in a bid to protect 32 trees scheduled for removal because of a municipal project to build a swimming pool and underground parking lot on the campus. Tree protection volunteers and Green Party Taiwan members took turns to support him.

The city government rejected the volunteers’ suggestion of reducing the number of trees to be removed and saving a large proportion of the construction budget by reducing what they said was unnecessary construction work.

After 268 hours in the tree, Pan was removed by police officers at about 11am yesterday and sent to hospital.

“I will use all my strength and will to the last minute to protect the ‘sea of trees’ and the community’s old memories with the goal of keeping the trees where they are now and stopping the inappropriate construction work,” Pan said last week.

Video clips showed that before the police reached Pan with an aerial ladder, two construction workers had climbed onto the tree and shaken the higher branches that Pan climbed onto, causing the volunteers to protest against actions that may have put Pan in danger.

Green Party Taiwan members Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) and Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) were taken away by the police for questioning, because they were said to be violating the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).

Other volunteers said they were only holding signs bearing protest messages.