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Environmental activists urge overhaul
of EIA process
Staff Writer, with CNA
National Cheng Kung University
students rally yesterday on the university¡¦s campus in Tainan against the
proposed construction of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co¡¦s eighth naphtha
cracker on a 200 hectare stretch of wetlands on the coast of Changhua County.
Photo: CNA
The environmental impact assessment (EIA)
procedure needs to be overhauled so that controversial projects can be reviewed
more thoroughly and political responsibility is more clearly defined,
environmentalists said yesterday.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) today will hold its fifth EIA
meeting related to a controversial petrochemical project planned by Kuokuang
Petrochemical Technology Co for a wetlands area in Changhua County.
Environmental activists have criticized the EIA process, calling its as flawed.
Chen Ping-hsuan (³¯¥°a), spokesperson of the National Youth Alliance Against
Kuokuang Petrochemical Project, said members of the EIA committee reviewing the
project had come under excessive political pressure because they had the power
to veto the project.
Chen said the final decision on the project should not be made based solely on
the EPA¡¦s judgment. Instead, the Executive Yuan should convene interdepartmental
meetings to weigh a wide range of issues, from environmental protection to
economic development.
¡§It is the Executive Yuan, not the EPA, that should be the gatekeeper of the
review process so we know who can be held substantively responsible for the
decision,¡¨ he said.
Such a broad review was necessary for projects such as the Kuokuang
petrochemical complex plan because they could have a substantial impact on all
government branches, far beyond the reach of the EPA, the activist said.
Chen also worried that because the EPA has been given de facto veto power by
politicians, the EIA committee members would be forced to consider ¡§political
issues that are not related to their expertise¡¨ because they do not want to
upset the authorities.
Chen said the EIA process should rely on more formal formats, such as
administrative hearings, rather than the semi-public meetings used at present
where comments by committee members are not a matter of public record.
The government has suggested conducting an EIA for the country¡¦s petrochemical
industry policy as a whole, an idea that Chao Chia-wei, the coordinator of the
Green Citizens¡¦ Action Alliance, believes would be a step forward.
However, he said it should take place before the authorities decided whether to
give a nod to the Kuokuang project.
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