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Dasi residents protest chemical plants
POLLUTION:Amid accusations that he had approved the
plants’ construction, Eric Chu said he closed them down in 2006. A woman who
lives next door to one disagreed
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
A man holds up a sign as residents of Dasi
Township, Taoyuan County, protest outside the legislature in Taipei yesterday
against chemical plants that Eric Chu, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT)
mayoral candidate for Sinbei City, said he had ordered to be shut down in 2006.
The residents said their water sources are still being polluted.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Residents from Dasi Township (大溪), Taoyuan County, yesterday
staged a demonstration against chemical plants in an area designated as a water
resources protection zone.
“You can see that most of the people who’ve come here [to the demonstration] are
either elderly or children. If it weren’t for the fact that we don’t have any
other options, we wouldn’t have chosen to take to the streets,” an
elementary-school teacher surnamed Huang (黃) told the crowd in front of the
Legislative Yuan’s main gate in Taipei.
“The county government promised several times to move the plants, but they are
still there — threatening our health as well as the quality of water not only
for Taoyuan residents, but also Taipei residents,” Huang said, referring to
several small petrochemical plants in the township near the Shimen Reservoir
(石門水庫).
The reservoir provides water for most of Taipei County’s urban areas — including
Banciao (板橋), Sinjhuang (新莊) and Jhonghe (中和).
“Construction of the petrochemical plants was approved by former Taoyuan County
commissioner Eric Chu (朱立倫) in 2005,” Huang said.
“How dare he run for Sinbei City mayor when the water pollution caused by the
plants has not only affected Taoyuan County but also Taipei County?” Huang said.
Sinbei City will be the name for Taipei County after it is upgraded to special
municipality status next month. Chu is running as the Chinese Nationalist Party
(KMT) candidate for mayor.
Huang declined to reveal her full name — as did many other demonstrators —
saying they have received threats from local gangsters since they began their
campaign against the plants in 2006.
“We didn’t organize this demonstration because we’re trying to influence the
special municipality elections; we began this campaign in 2006,” Dasi People’s
Association chairman Huang Wen-chung (黃文中) told reporters.
“We’re constantly under all kinds of threats,” he said.
Huang Wen-chung said one of the most serious assaults on his family happened the
night before he was to lead a group of demonstrators to Taipei four years ago.
Someone threw a gasoline bomb into the house, triggering a fire, but no suspect
has ever been arrested.
“Fortunately no one was home at the time,” Huang Wen-chung said.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) last
month quoted Chu as saying he had already ordered the plants to halt operations
in 2006, and operations had not resumed.
However, a protester surnamed Chiang (江), who said she lived right next to one
of the plants, said it was still operating.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓), speaking at a separate setting, dismissed the
allegations that the plants were still operating as false.
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