Dolphins in the waters around FPG and Dacheng

It wasn't that long ago that the very existance of Taiwan pink dolphins in the waters around the Formosa Plastics Plant (FPG)was disputed by FPG. FPG is situated at Mailiao at the mouth of the Zhoushui River in Yunlin County. On the opposite bank is the Dacheng wetlands in Chunghua County. This is the site of the planned Kuokuang petrochemical plant complex. Much of the FPG plant is built on reclaimed land. Before the plant was built a large estuarine delta existed there. Much of it was destroyed when the Formosa plant was built in the early 1990s. Therefore, what remains of this important ecosystem needs the utmost protection for the continued survival of Taiwan's west coast.

The Zhoushui River is Taiwan's largest river. The estuarine ecosystem at the mouth of the river is critically important to the well being of the entire west coast. Large areas of tidal mudflats and the mixing of sea and fresh water in the Zhoushui estuary give rise to an area of tremendous ecological abundance. Numerous fish species spawn in the estuarine waters. It is home to top predators like the unique Taiwan pink dolphins. The abundance of crustaceans and other marine life create one of the most important migratory stops and wintering areas for East Asia's shorebirds. The vulnerable Saunders's Gull (Larus saundersi) use the area as a vital part of their wintering habitat. Because of the area's importance to migrating and wintering shorebirds, which would include the the globally endangered Black-faced Spoonbill (Platalea minor) and the fact that it is a vital wintering area for the Red Listed Saunders's Gull the area has been listed as an internationally important bird area (IBA) by BirdLife International. The Dacheng Wetlands is listed as IBA: TW-016.

The Dacheng area is vitally important to the communities that surround it. Local fishers depend on the area for their livelihood as do oyster farmers and other aquaculturists. The destruction of the wetlands will destroy these traditional communities way of life.

Originally FPG and developers denied the existence of pink dolphins in these waters. Conservationists and researchers were accused of fabricating evidence and showing footage of pink dolphins filmed in Hong Kong waters. Conservationists and researchers would be bullied by pro development thugs at meetings. These thugs would disrupt meetings and hearings where evidence of pink dolphins in off the Zhoushui mouth was presented. However, evidence became so overwhelming that eventually FPG and developers had to concede that there were indeed pink dolphins in the waters around the FPG plant.

Photo A: Photo courtesy and copyright of FormosaCetus Research & Conservation Group.

Photo A shows a recent photo of a mother and calf pair (part of a larger group) in the waters around an area the has recently been reclaimed for a tree planting project at the FPG plant. See FPG land reclamation in pink dolphin habitat update.


Photo B: Photo courtesy and copyright of FormosaCetus Research & Conservation Group.

Photo B shows a recent photo of the same mother and calf pair shown in Photo A right up close to the sea wall of the area that has recently been reclaimed for a tree planting project at the FPG plant. What are these dolphins doing. Could it be that they are looking for their old home or feeding area? The reclaimed area is where dolphins fed in 2007 before work on the sea wall began in autumn 2007.

Photo C: Photo courtesy and copyright of FormosaCetus Research & Conservation Group.

Photo C is a recent photograph showing three pink dolphins at Dacheng with FPG in the background - they were first observed just south of Wang-gong and they were heading south slowly and clearly feeding (throwing fish out of the water, fish jumping to get away) along the way.


Also see Future home of Kuokuang Petrochemical! on The View from Taiwan blog.

A few photos- Chung Yuan Festival: The Ghosts Approach the President’s Office

Protesters staged a protest outside the Presidential Office in the form of a Pudu ceremony.

Last Tuesday we posted a press briefing for a protest outside the Presidential Office. The protest was in the spirit of ghost month, which falls now during the seventh month of the lunar year. Protesters performed a Pudu ceremony outside the Presidential Office. The Pudu ceremony or ritual is one of the most important ceremonies of the Ghost Festival or Ghost Month as it is often called. During the event, people make offerings to the ghosts and spirits from the underworld during their month-long stay in the realm of the living.

Protesters said that seeing that the Presidential Office is unable to deal with some of the ghostly agitators in office they had invited NIAN Hsi-chieh, as the “Environmental Grand Taoist Master”, to offer up incantations for this year of the “wooden tiger” to show our utter disgust and disappointment with this sorry excuse for a government.

A few more recent Pink Dolphin photos

Three more pink dolphin photos taken along the Changhua Coast on the morning of 22 August 2010 south of the Tadu River near the Changbin Industrial Park. Photos courtesy and copyright of Chang Hengjia, Taiwan Sustainability Union.








For more, see the Taiwan pink dolphin video.

Also see:
Recent Pink dolphin photos

More recent Pink Dolphin photos

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

A letter by Robin Winkler of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association. Wild is the Secretariat for the Matsu's Fish Conservation Union.


I was born in the US, and while I may be what most Taiwanese think of as a typical foreigner, the criticisms of how the “American way of life,” based as it is on excessive consumption and squandering of the world’s resources have long resonated with me. This has led me to spend most of the past 35 years in Taiwan, where upon arrival I was immediately taken by the people’s attitudes toward resources, attitudes that might be laughed at in my home country.

I first came to Taiwan in 1977, and saw how in many households family members would take turns to bathe in the same tub of water and then use it to water the flowers or mop the floor. When it came to using electric lights, people were careful to the point of stinginess. It was this energy-saving “Taiwanese way of life,” necessitated by the financial constraints of the time, that helped me fall in love with this place and its people.

Later and sadly for me however, as our economy took off, Taiwan blindly strived to achieve just the kind of American lifestyle that I had rejected. The result today is that the average amount of carbon dioxide emissions per person in Taiwan is three times the global average, and Taiwan’s emissions keep growing faster than anywhere else.

The sad thing is that when it comes to those American values that Taiwan **should** adopt, many people have not learned them thoroughly, carefully or properly, and people in leading positions who have studied abroad – mostly in the US – are often the first to betray those values. In Western societies, including the US, people take great care to abide by and uphold the rule of law. Government departments, in particular, are particularly attentive not to be seen as undermining the rule of law. It is a different matter in Taiwan. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) received a doctorate in juridical science from Harvard University, but when serving as mayor of Taipei City he trampled the rule of law underfoot by refusing to pay the city’s National Health Insurance contribution arrears, as demanded by the Cabinet. His refusal continued after court decisions and even after an interpretation of the Council of Grand Justices ruled against his administration.

In a classic “follow the leader” Premier and former legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) dismissed as “dark clouds” and “hocus pocus” a court decision ordering a halt to construction work on the Cising Farm (七星農場) extension of the Central Taiwan Science Park. It’s hard to decide whether to laugh or cry at such comments. Wu’s Cabinet team then willfully twisted the court’s decision, claiming that it meant the science park’s management administration would have to suspend its construction work (停工) but private corporations AU Optronics (友達) and Sunner Solar (旭能) could keep on operating(不停產). Then jumping into the fray comes Environment Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏), who went even further, saying in emotive outbursts that “the court will pay the price” and claiming “judicial interference in environmental impact assessment matters”. Minister Shen has also busied himself with obfuscation tactics, spending endless hours penning newspaper articles berating the courts for their decisions and otherwise distracting readers from the substantive issues. This sort of behavior does raise questions on citizenship requirements for countries such as Canada.

The executive agencies ignore the laws passed by the legislature, and when the judiciary finds the executive agencies in violation of the law, the executive agencies spit on the courts’ decisions. How can we allow the legislature and judiciary to be treated by the Executive in this manner?

Through its actions, Taiwan’s government is gradually eroding and dismembering two fundamental values of Western societies – the separation of powers and the rule of law. We have been led to believe that these are core values for Taiwan, regardless of whether the Chinese KMT or the DPP is in the Executive. Having been educated in law in the US, I am both amazed and baffled by this trend. Ma’s governing team includes several ministers who studied in the US. These “counterfeit foreign devils” may speak fluent English, but when you look below the surface they seem more like students returning from China. To be fair perhaps we should note that while the principles of separation of powers and rule of law have been dominant in American thinking for over 200 years, we have only really had an opportunity to test these principles in Taiwan for the past twenty years or so.

But what really baffles me is where is the voice of Taiwan’s legal community in in the face of such brash abuse of process to the extent of bringing on a constitutional crisis. What accounts for the silence while the government proceeds with this systematic trashing of the law? In a country where legal scholars and professors are given so much reverence and stature, the rule of law needs you, the country needs you. Speak out!


Robin Winkler is chair of the Environmental Jurists Association and a former environmental impact assessment commissioner with the Environmental Protection Agency (2005-2007).
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG

Letter originally posted on the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association website.


Also see:
Academics against new Kuokuang plant

Government quick to defend Formosa Plastics in the wake of a second fire

Formosa Plastics on fire again

Taiwan High Administrative Court orders Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion pending a ruling on two lawsuits

The saga of the CTSP Erlin Science Park and the Kuokuang Petrochemical Project

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

EPA and NSC appeal High Administrative Court order

Erosion of democracy and freedom Beijing style

Local residents block access to FPG plant

Local residents continue to block access to FPG plant

Government defies the courts with the President's blessing

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

Science park development at Houli gets the nod

Photos: EPA gives Phase 3 CTSP the nod even if the courts say no.

Taiwan's rubber stamp EPA

FPG land reclamation in pink dolphin habitat update

Since 2007 we've had periodic updates on a land reclamation project in known pink dolphin habitat at the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) plant at Mailiao, Yunlin County on the west-central coast. What follows are several recent photos from the reclamation site where trees are to be planted in a tree-planting for carbon gimmick. Destroying the marine habitat of critically endangered dolphins to plant trees on reclaimed land? Well, FPG was the winner of the infamous Black Planet Award for its shocking environmental track record. Last month two fires at the plant outraged local residents and caused horrendous toxic clouds that contaminated fields and fish farms.

Photo A (2008-08-08) shows a comparison of two photos taken of the same area. The top photo shows a dolphin in the area before reclamation work started in the autumn of 2007. The photo was taken in mid summer 2007. The lower photo shows the same area in August 2008. The area where the dolphin was is within the area between the two sea-walls. The approximate spot where the dolphin was is indicated with an orange arrowhead. FPG originally denied the existence of the pink dolphins in the waters around the plant but had to acknowledge their existence when researchers collected years of data and photographic evidence. Click to watch a film clip of pink dolphins swimming in the waters in the area where this reclamation project is taking place. The footage was filmed in the summer of 2007 shortly before work on the southern sea wall began.

Photo B (2009-03-05) shows the view from the shore looking out to where the dolphin in Photo A was. The area is now enclosed within the sea walls but still contains water.

Photo C (2010-07-16) is looking across the same area as in Photos A & B but from the base of the southern sea wall. The area is now being filled with sand and rocks.

Photo D (2010-07-16) is looking from the base of the southern sea wall towards the northern sea wall along the approximate former shoreline. The dolphin in Photo A was about midway between the two sea walls and just offshore.

Photo E (2010-07-16) is the view along the southern sea wall looking towards the tower which isn't visible now from this point.

Photo F (2010-07-16) shows the southern sea wall viewed from the pier. The tower is just visible to the left of the end of the wall. The former dolphin observation point used by researchers up until 2008 was just to the left of the trees.

Photo G (2010-07-16) shows sand being used for filling the reclamation area. In other reclamation projects fly ash and other such materials have been known to be mixed in with soil and sand. This raises concerns as to what exactly is being used as filler and is it free from toxins that could contaminate surrounding waters.

Photo H (2010-07-16) the end of the southern sea wall. The tower is clearly visible as are several ships. A flag marker for a fishing net is also clearly visible.

Photo I (2010-07-16) shows nets, fish traps and oyster beds in the channel south of the reclamation project. These pose a hazard to the dolphins. In September 2009 dolphin TW-03 drowned as a result of entanglement in fishing gear.

Photo J (2010-07-16) shows the view of another reclaimed area across the channel.

Photo K (2010-07-16) shows the view of another reclaimed area across the channel.

Photo L (2010-07-16) shows the view of part of the FPG plant from the pier.

Photo M shows a pink dolphin with the Formosa Plastics plant at Mailiao clearly visible in the background. The photo was taken just a few hours before the second fire in July at the FPG plant: Photo courtesy and copyright of FormosaCetus Research & Conservation Group.


Earlier reports:

Mailiao Reclamation Site - The Green Area ? (2007-09-30)

Pictures from Mailiao (2008-09-09)

Photos from Mailiao: more dolphin habitat gone ! (2009-03-06)

Dolphins in the waters around FPG and Dacheng (2010-08-31)

More recent Pink Dolphin photos

16 pink dolphin photos taken along the Changhua Coast on the morning of 22 August south of the Tadu River near the Changbin Industrial Park. Photos courtesy and copyright of Chang Hengjia, Taiwan Sustainability Union.




































For more, see the Taiwan pink dolphin video.

Also see:
Recent Pink dolphin photos

A few more recent Pink Dolphin photos

Chung Yuan Festival: The Ghosts Approach the President’s Office

It's ghost month here in Taiwan. This morning we received the following press briefing which we've posted below.


Chung Yuan Festival: The Ghosts Approach the President’s Office
News briefing

The seventh month of the lunar year is the time when people traditionally pay tribute to the ghosts of departed souls. While it is known as “ghost month” the true spirit of the tribute is to honor the ghosts, spirits and others who protect the common people and the balance of the ten thousand beings.

Unfortunately we have been witnessing a tendency in policy, words and deeds of the government to enclose the farmers, favoring conglomerates and electronics and petrochemical companies, while ignoring the common people of flesh and blood, leaving environmental debt for the next generation to pay, and leaving the nation in ruins and the people impoverished. One can only conclude that the gods and spirits are very agitated.

Thus, on this day of the Pudu (普渡) ceremony (the 14th day of the Seventh Month of the Lunar Calendar, or 24 August of the solar calendar this year), seeing that the Presidential Office is unable to deal with these ghostly agitators, we have invited NIAN Hsi-chieh, as the “Environmental Grand Taoist Master”, to offer up incantations for this year of the “wooden tiger”. We also invite people from all walks of life to join in the ghost and spirit parade encircling the Presidential Office in a demonstration of the peoples’ utter disgust and disappointment with this sorry excuse for a government.

Time: Tuesday 24 August 2010 2 pm
Place: Presidential Palace (in front of the Taipei Guest House just south and from the MRT National Taiwan University Hospital Station

Sponsoring Groups: Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union (Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association Taiwan, Taiwan Academy of Ecology, Taiwan Sustainability Union, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Yunlin County Wild Bird Federation, Changhua Coastal Protection Union), Changhua County Environmental Protection Union, Green Party

Contact: Ms. WU Meng-chun 0963-324676, Ms. GAN Chen-yi 0928-926180

中元節神鬼日行總統府行動
採訪通知

農曆七月是民間習俗裡祭拜亡魂的月份，雖俗稱鬼月，然而心誠則靈，天地神鬼終究會保佑蒼生。但，政府政策圈地滅農、重財團輕庶民、債留子孫、禍國殃民，宛若神鬼亂舞；因此在農曆中元節當天，民間團體發起中元節神鬼日行總統府，請來「環境弘法師」粘錫麟老師獻誦〈庚寅年祭文〉，並廣邀各界「裝神弄鬼」，遶行總統府一圈，一吐人民的怨氣與不滿。敬邀媒體先進蒞臨採訪！

時間：2010年8月24日（星期二）下午兩點
地點：總統府前（台北賓館門口）

發起團體：
台灣媽祖魚保育聯盟（台灣蠻野心足生態協會、台灣環境保護聯盟、台灣永續聯盟、彰化海岸保育行動聯盟、台灣生態學會、雲林縣野鳥學會）、彰化縣環境保護聯盟、綠黨

新聞聯絡人：
吳孟純小姐 0963-324676
甘宸宜小姐 0928-926180

Update:
A few photos- Chung Yuan Festival: The Ghosts Approach the President’s Office

MFCU Press Release

The following MFCU press release highlights the issue of non peer reviewed science that the [Taiwan] Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and so-called developers like Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan Power Company and Kuokuang Petrochemical seem so keen on favouring while ignoring the credible peer reviewed publications, findings and recommendations of both local and international experts.


PINK DOLPHINS:
WHERE’S YOUR MAMA?!
Press conference

Time: Monday 23 August 2010 10 am
Place: NTU Alumni Association Conference Rm 3C
No 2-1 Chin-nan Rd. Sec. 1 Taipei

The conservation of the unique Taiwan population of the Indo Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis), also known as the “pink dolphins”,“Chinese white dolphins” or “Matsu’s Fish”, has long been the focus of attention of international scientists and conservation organizations. However, none of the relevant environmental impact assessment reports for development projects in or near the dolphins’ habitat has been approved by the international community of cetacean experts, nor have survey and research teams hired by the developer published on the impacts of the project in international peer-reviewed journals.

One has to wonder: does this group of researchers that takes on almost all the research projects from both government and industry really understand the pink dolphins? Or are they just lending their “academic credentials” as a stamp of approval for the development projects?

The team, lead by someone once given the title in the media as “Dolphin Mama” due to her very public position on conservation, has benefited from a slew of research projects ever since the pink dolphins started gaining public attention due to the research activities of international scientists (starting in 2002), the highlighting of the issue to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) by local environmentalists (starting 2005), three international conferences and workshops convened in Taiwan (2004, 2007, 2009) by the aforementioned scientists and environmentalists, the formal petitioning to the Executive Yuan in January 2008, the establishment of the Eastern Taiwan Strait Sousa Technical Working Advisory Group (ETSSTWAG) which has offered assistance to Taiwan’s government, industry and researchers (January 2008), the declaration by the IUCN that the unique Taiwan population is critically endangered (August 2008) and a number of internationally published and peer reviewed journals and reports appearing nearly every year since the population was scientifically confirmed by a team of international scientists in 2002.

However, although the Dolphin Mama has been receiving research projects from government agencies (Forestry Bureau, Fisheries Agency) as well as developers (Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan Power Company and Kuokuang Petrochemical) since 2005 including what is estimated to be well over 100 million NT$, however the results of the studies have not been been subject to peer review by cetacean experts.

This inevitably brings up questions and concerns over the quality of the research and the reports. Most recently the group, in representing Kuokuang Petrochemical developer, all but ignored what the international community believes to be the major impact of the project on the dolphins – land reclamation. Instead the group has been devoting itself to raising a number mitigation measures such as luring the animals to go around the construction site by feeding them fish and proposing many more research projects and other studies, while giving short shrift to the opinions of the international community and even making claims of “politics” playing in the decisions of the IUCN which resulted in this unique population’s designation of CR or critically endangered, the last step before “extinct in the wild”.

By refusing to stand up for the dolphins and insisting on rigorous scrutiny of the impact of the reclamation on their habitat, these “experts” are not only abdicating their duties as scientists, they also appear to be abandoning any idea of conservation for the dolphins.

At the press conference we will announce a recent international publication that discusses the serious impacts of the Kuokuang project on the survival of this population of dolphins. We have also invited Taiwan’s “teacher of teachers” when it comes to cetaceans, Professor YANG Hong-chia, who recorded sightings of the Indo Pacific humpback dolphins in Taiwan waters as early as 1963. Professor YANG will talk about how the deteriorating condition of our oceans around Taiwan for the past fifty years affects the Taiwan pink dolphins.

Host organizations: Matsu’s Fish Conservation Union (Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association Taiwan, Taiwan Academy of Ecology, Taiwan Sustainability Union, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Wild Bird Society of Yunlin, Changhua Coastal Protection Union), & Changhua County Environmental Protection Union.

Contact: GAN Chen-yi 0928926180

Plans to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands to save pink dolphin habitat and to protect threatened birds and marine life

Taiwan pink dolphin: photo courtesy of FormosaCetus Research & Conservation Group.


The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, a member of the Matsu's Fish Conservation Union (MFCU) has launched a drive to raise funds to purchase 800 hectares of Dacheng wetland on the Chunghua County coast in an effort to help save this extremely important coastal habitat. The wetlands are vitally important for the survival of the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins and also several threatened bird species and marine life. The Dacheng [also spelt Tacheng] wetlands are also listed internationally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International/IUCN. Dacheng is a very important wintering area for the vulnerable Saunders's Gull (Larus saundersi).

Although Dacheng wetlands on the northern edge of the mouth of Jhuoshuei River are listed as an internationally Important Bird Area [IBA: TW-016] and is well known as an extremely important habitat for the unique Taiwan pink dolphins and many endangered fish and bird species, Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co. plans to build oil refineries in the area.

Mudflats at the Dacheng wetlands. These mudflats and estuarine waters are critical to the survival of the Taiwan pink dolphins and hosts of other wildlife.


In a previous drive 50,000 people signed up to purchase 200 hectares of Dacheng coastal wetlands in an attempt to block the construction of a petrochemical plant in the wetland area. Yesterday, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union announced the beginning of the second phase of the project; to purchase another 800 hectares.

Environmental groups are still in the process of registering to create a trust fund. However, there are concerns that the government with its openly pro Kuokuang Petrochemical stance may well attempt to scuttle efforts to register the trust fund. The Kuokuang project is part of the 4th-phase-expansion of the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP). Last month the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled that construction work at the CTSP's Phase-4 zone in Erlin, Changhua County, had to be stopped until further environmental impact assessments were conducted and approved but the government has defied the ruling of the courts and allowed work to continue.

For more see Activists look to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands in today's Taipei Times.

Also see:
Buy a patch of land, help save a dolphin! - Taiwan NGOs to present 'wet' land trust application to the government this Wednesday (7 July)

Academics against new Kuokuang plant

Government quick to defend Formosa Plastics in the wake of a second fire

Formosa Plastics on fire again

Taiwan High Administrative Court orders Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion pending a ruling on two lawsuits

The saga of the CTSP Erlin Science Park and the Kuokuang Petrochemical Project

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

EPA and NSC appeal High Administrative Court order

Erosion of democracy and freedom Beijing style

Local residents block access to FPG plant

Local residents continue to block access to FPG plant

Government defies the courts with the President's blessing

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

Government defies the courts with the President's blessing

Just two short weeks ago while commenting on the second fire within a month at the Formosa Plastic Group (FPG) plant at Mailiao, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said the government attaches equal importance to economic development and environmental protection, but if the two issues conflict, environmental protection would win out. Yesterday, Ma was defending the government's decision to defy a High Court order to suspend industrial production at the Central Taiwan Science Park's (CTSP) Houli site and to continue with production.

Just what is Ma up to? Ma has a real history of being wishy-washy and speaking out both sides of his mouth. Is this just another case of that? Two weeks ago, with Ma citing the Basic Environmental Act which says that environmental protection should be the priority if any economic or technological developments cause damage to the environment, one would have thought he was making a statement of support for the environment when it comes into conflict with the petrochemical industry. His utterings were on the same day as the High Administrative Court ruling on the CTSP expansion. OK, he was commenting on the Formosa Plastics Fire but when he went on to say his administration would handle related issues by adhering to the act one seemed to take him at his word and took it he wasn't just referring to the FPG fire at this point.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou: photo Wikimedia Commons.



With Premier Wu Den-yih remaining as defiant as ever following the court rulings over halting of the CTSP expansions, it appeared for a time that the President and Premier were on different teams. And then suddenly, the President seemed to fall in line with the wishes of his subordinate, Premier Wu. Should we be asking just who is calling the shots up at the top? The President, Premier and entire cabinet seem to be in open rebellion of the Judiciary. This raises extremely disturbing questions given the ruling party's authoritarian past. Does the KMT Government plan on turning back the clock to the Marshal Law era? The CTSP expansion seems to be fast becoming a tragic memorial to the death of Taiwan's west coast, the natural environment and the final nail in the coffin of the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins. Will it also mark the deathbed of an independent judiciary, the rule of law and democracy?


Critically Endangered Taiwan pink dolphins: photo Chang Hengjia, Taiwan Sustainability Union.


For more see President defends decision to allow controversial plan in today's Taipei Times.

In related news there were demonstrations outside the Fubon Bank's Taipei headquarters yesterday because the bank is a shareholder of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co.'s planned petrochemical plant at Dacheng in Changhua County. The Kuokuang project is part of the controversial expansion of the CTSP which is proceeding in violation of a High Administrative Court ruling that the expansion should be suspended. Dacheng is an area of critically important habitat to the critically endangered Taiwan pink dolphins. The Dacheng area [also spelt Tacheng] is also listed internationally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International/IUCN. Dacheng is a very important wintering area for the vulnerable Saunders's Gull (Larus saundersi). For more on the Fubon Bank protests see Activists protest at Fubon Bank.

Three Saunders's Gulls in the foreground with Black-headed Gulls and other waders in the background: photo Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.


Also see:
Academics against new Kuokuang plant

Government quick to defend Formosa Plastics in the wake of a second fire

Formosa Plastics on fire again

Taiwan High Administrative Court orders Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion pending a ruling on two lawsuits

The saga of the CTSP Erlin Science Park and the Kuokuang Petrochemical Project

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

EPA and NSC appeal High Administrative Court order

Erosion of democracy and freedom Beijing style

Local residents block access to FPG plant

Local residents continue to block access to FPG plant

Plans to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands to save pink dolphin habitat and to protect threatened birds and marine life

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

Science park development at Houli gets the nod

Photos: EPA gives Phase 3 CTSP the nod even if the courts say no.

Taiwan's rubber stamp EPA

Local residents continue to block access to FPG plant

Protests outside the Formosa Plastics Plant at Mailiao in the wake of the second fire within a month at the plant: Photo - Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.


Local residents yesterday morning continued to block access on one access road to the Formosa Plastic Group's (FPG) petrochemical complex at Mailiao on the Yunlin County coast in protest of two recent fires and excessive pollution levels generated by the petrochemical complex. Protesters disbursed after succeeding in disrupting traffic to and from the plant for part of the morning.

Understandably police were present to maintain order. However, the worrying trend of using police to defend the actions of unethical corporations continues. This creates the impression that the police are siding with corporations against the well being of suffering local communities. With the government ignoring court rulings to stop construction in planned petrochemical industry expansion projects the stage is being set for an extremely volatile situation as those effected by the projects are made to feel that even when they win in court the government and developers just ignore it and forge ahead regardless. Such a situation will almost certainly push people into taking the law into their own hands.

It is clearly unwise and unfeeling of the authorities to uphold the rights of petrochemical industry workers to work while totally ignoring the rights of locals to have a clean and non toxic environment. Many local farmers, fishers and aquaculturists have had their livelihoods ruined by the toxic fallout from two recent fires. Surely their right to work is equally as important as that of a petrochemical industry worker? But the police and authorities seem to be ignoring that.

The police really should be seen to be even-handed and not openly "pro" the petrochemical industry. Negligence, likely criminal, at the minimum must be the cause of some of the current pollution problems. It really is time for FPG and its management to come up against the heavy hand of the law that police seem so keen to dish out to anti petrochemical industry stakeholders in Yunlin, Changhua, Taichung, Miaoli and outside the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei.

For more on yesterday's protests see Residents block access to FPG plant for a second day in today's Taipei Times.

Also see:
Academics against new Kuokuang plant

Government quick to defend Formosa Plastics in the wake of a second fire

Formosa Plastics on fire again

Taiwan High Administrative Court orders Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion pending a ruling on two lawsuits

The saga of the CTSP Erlin Science Park and the Kuokuang Petrochemical Project

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

EPA and NSC appeal High Administrative Court order

Erosion of democracy and freedom Beijing style

Local residents block access to FPG plant

Government defies the courts with the President's blessing

Plans to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands to save pink dolphin habitat and to protect threatened birds and marine life

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

Taiwan's rubber stamp EPA

Photos of the Nan Ya Plastics Corp fire

Local residents block access to FPG plant

Legions of police officers guarding the Formosa Plastics management offices at Mailiao.

The second fire within a month at the Formosa Plastics plant in Mailiao in Yunlin County. Formosa Plastics were the winners of the infamous Black Planet Award in 2009 for their horrendous environmental track record. Photo courtesy of MFCU.


Yesterday, local residents from the area around the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) plant at Mailiao on the Yunlin County coast blocked access to the plant in a protest against excessive pollution levels caused by two fires at the plant last month. Clashes erupted when the police tried to forcefully remove and disburse protesting residents.

While one appreciates the need for the police to maintain order one can't help but note the irony of the situation and the worrying questions it poses.

The shocking international environmental track record of Formosa Plastics is no secret. From Mailiao, Taiwan to Illinois, USA, FPG has left a trail of toxic destruction. It was for this reason that ethecon, a German-based ethics foundation better known for the annual Blue Planet Award for outstanding dedication and service to the environment decided to bestow the infamous Black Planet Award for 2009 on Formosa Plastics for its dedication to the horrendous destruction it has unleashed on our planet.

On Sunday 25 July the second fire witin a month broke out at the FPG plant at Mailiao and once again toxic clouds engulfed the area. Fires at Formosa Plants are nothing new. Neither are they confined to Taiwan. The FPG fires at Illiopolis, Illinois in 2004 and Point Comfort, Texas in 2005 are just two other examples. Both fires resulted from poor safety management and standards.

The areas surrounding the FPG plant at Mailiao are know to have cancer rates around 6 to 7 times the national average (For more, see: FTV report on high levels of cancer in Mailiao and Taisi Townships in Yunlin County). Many local residents are farmers, fishers and aquaculturists. High levels of pollution and toxic waters destroy their livelihoods. Frustration and anger at Formosa is nothing new for many of these folks and their plight against the toxic corporate giant within their midst's has largely been ignored by the pro petrochemical industry authorities.

It is therefore not surprising that these people after the toxic fallout of two fires within in a month and the pathetic reactions of an indifferent government in the wake of the fires have found the situation intolerable and taken to the streets. After all, is the right to protest one of the pillars of democracy. However, before we continue we need to look at the current political environment these people find themselves in.

Just across the Jhoushui River from Mailiao in Chunghua County the battle over the controversial Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) is unfolding. Despite a Taipei High Administrative Court ruling last month that construction work at the CTSP's Phase-4 zone in Erlin, Changhua County had to be stopped until further EIAs were conducted and approved. The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has ignored the ruling and allowed companies that had already begun production or were building to continue to do so.

Further up the coast at Houli the EPA ignored a Supreme Administrative Court ruling against the EPA's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) review of the CTSP Phase-3 zone in Houli, Taichung County in January and has allowed the development to continue. In both cases the seizure of farmland and displacement of rural communities to make way for so-called development has been a tragic reality. All the time the developers have been egged on by Taiwan Premier Wu Den-yih who is determined to see the CTSP expansions succeed regardless of what the courts say.

The environmental impact assessment process has not been transparent. Stakeholders, environmentalists, local residents have often been barred or simply not invited to meetings. When they try to attend they usually find legions of riot police barring their way. The president, premier and senior officials have snubbed local residents and refused to even meet them or hear their petitions.

Against this backdrop the situation on the ground certainly looks somewhat menacing and desperate. The people have tried legal options and when they succeed in the courts the government just ignores the rulings. When they go out onto the streets they are met by scores of riot police and leaders are detained because the "protest" has been deemed illegal by the police, which under the circumstances are being seen as enforcers of the will of the Premier Wu and the petrochemical industry rather than enforcing the rule of law and the orders of the courts. It would seem that Wu is setting the stage for a tragic disaster. If the people are left with no legal options then it is almost a certainty that they will feel the need to take the law into their own hands and the results of such actions will likely have very tragic consequences. Makes you wonder just who the real criminals here are?

For more on yesterday's protests see: Mailiao protestors block access to FPG plant.

Also see:
Academics against new Kuokuang plant

Government quick to defend Formosa Plastics in the wake of a second fire

Formosa Plastics on fire again

Taiwan High Administrative Court orders Central Taiwan Science Park to halt all expansion pending a ruling on two lawsuits

The saga of the CTSP Erlin Science Park and the Kuokuang Petrochemical Project

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

EPA and NSC appeal High Administrative Court order

Is the State turning the police into thugs?

Erosion of democracy and freedom Beijing style

Local residents continue to block access to FPG plant

Government defies the courts with the President's blessing

Plans to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands to save pink dolphin habitat and to protect threatened birds and marine life

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

Yet another FPG related fire

Photos of the Nan Ya Plastics Corp fire

Erosion of law, democracy and freedom Beijing style

For some thought-provoking comment on how the Ma regime seems to be rolling back democracy in Taiwan and slowly importing draconian-type legal concepts from across the Taiwan Strait see today's Taipei Times EDITORIAL: A very dangerous import from China. The handling of the Central Taiwan Science Park expansion comes to mind. Also, a letter by Julia Tong on the current struggle between Premier Wu Den-yih and the courts makes some very valid points on the current refusal of the Premier to respect the authority of the courts. See Wu let the dogs out?

Also see:
Is the State turning the police into thugs?

Wu the Kuokuang Petrochemical executive continues to forget he's the Nation's Premier

Local residents block access to FPG plant

Local residents continue to block access to FPG plant

Government defies the courts with the President's blessing

Plans to buy another 800 hectares of wetlands to save pink dolphin habitat and to protect threatened birds and marine life

Isn’t It Time the Legal Community Spoke Up?

Science park development at Houli gets the nod

Photos: EPA gives Phase 3 CTSP the nod even if the courts say no.

Recent Pink dolphin photos

Five photos of Pink dolphins taken on 12 August 2010 off the coast of Changhua County near the the Changbin Industrial Park . Between 10-15 dolphins were sighted. Photos courtesy and copyright of Chang Hengjia, Taiwan Sustainability Union.




























For more, see the Taiwan pink dolphin video.

Also see:
A few more recent Pink Dolphin photos

More recent Pink Dolphin photos