No schedule set for Taiwan EPA’s next environmental impact assessment review

12-Apr-11

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has asked Kuokuang project investors to submit a revised plan. As it awaits the revised plan, EPA officials have not set a schedule for the panel's next environmental impact assessment review. The NT$600 billion Kuokuang project, planned with a naphtha cracker and other petrochemical units to be located in a wetlands area in central Taiwan, failed to pass an environmental impact assessment when the review panel met in January for the fourth time. According to regulations, the panel cannot meet any sooner than one week after a revised plan has been submitted. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Economic Affairs Minister has opined despite strong opposition from environmental activists, the government's top priority is to keep the Kuokuang project in Taiwan because of its economic importance to the country.