Environmentalists appeal Keelung LNG station EIA decision

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) Environmental groups on Wednesday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant's planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung.

The appeal was filed jointly by the "Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group," the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the "Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association," which together held a press conference outside the Executive Yuan the same day.

Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said the EIA failed to address issues including soil pollution, environmental damage and national defense concerns.

Wang added that the project site borders the WeiHai Naval Base and claimed that Chinese military drills have used LNG receiving stations as simulated targets.

He said the EIA review process did not include any discussion of these national security issues.

Also speaking at the press conference, Chen Hsien-cheng (陳憲政), executive director of Wild at Heart, said there were clear procedural flaws in the approval process, including the failure to release the sixth draft of the EIA report seven days ahead of the review meeting as required.

Chen also said the assessment lacked substantive discussion of soil pollution and that the coral identification data contained numerous errors.

Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅), a lawyer with Wild at Heart, said the landfill location was approved without obtaining written consent from the Keelung City government and without holding a new scope-defining meeting.

Tsai also accused Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), the state-run utility responsible for the project, of releasing a misleading advertisement that claimed the terminal would emit no sulfur oxides.

Located on Taiwan's northern coastline near Keelung City's main urban area, Hsieh-ho Power Plant currently has two oil-fired units each capable of producing 500 megawatts that began operating in 1980 and 1985, according to information on Taipower's website.

The fourth LNG receiving station had been under second-phase review since 2018 and underwent six preliminary review meetings before the February decision conditionally approving the project.

However, the EIA committee ultimately only gave conditional approval with the requirement that Taipower address soil contamination concerns.