Five of the members on the committee, including lawyer Robin Winkler, Lee Keng-cheng, Hsu Kuang-jung, Chou Chin-cheng and Chan Shun-kuei, held a press conference yesterday to criticize the Cabinet’s pro-business policies at the expense of the environment.

Kuo Hung-yu, another panelist, did not take part in the press conference, but placed his name on a joint statement issued by his five colleagues.

They accused the Cabinet of using pro-government media organizations to blast the panelists as “obstacles to investments” in Taiwan.”

The government has been supporting massive investments in two petrochemical projects and a giant steel mill, planned by large business conglomerates, as well as a new thermal power plant by a state-run enterprise in the name of spurring economic development and creating jobs, regardless of environmental impact, they said.

The Cabinet has been siding with large business groups by putting ideology over experts’ professional views, rendering the environmental evaluation committee a “rubber stamp.”

Creating US$1 million worth of gross domestic product, Taiwan will produce an estimated 8.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, said the members, citing statistics released by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

When in operation, these projects will sharply boost the volume of carbon dioxide by 43.44 percent, further strain the supply of water, and increase health hazards, they argued.

An initial estimate shows that water requirements from the industrial sector will increase by 121.7 tons daily to reach 440 million tons annually, equal to the household consumption of nearly 5 million people for a year.

The amount equals to all the water supply of the Feitsui Reservoir, the water source for people in the Greater Taipei area.

Lee expressed concern that additional water for the Central Taiwan Science Park is coming from a reservoir that is being required to cope with the constantly increasing needs of the flat panel factories.

While industrial factories are being given priority, agricultural irrigation projects are receiving recycled water. This results in “good water for the industrial sector and poor water for the agricultural sector,” Lee claimed.

Chan, concerned about the air quality in central Taiwan, said the area already hosts a thermal power plant, sixth Naphtha cracker and the Central Taiwan Science Park.

If other development projects, including the Formosa Plastics Group’s integrated steel mill, also pass environmental impact review, the air quality could deteriorate to levels that may compromise public health.

The worsening global warming effects credited to Taiwan will easily make the island “a public enemy” on earth, as the international community has demonstrated an ever-stronger desire to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, they said.

They also pointed out that among the 21 members on the environmental impact evaluation panel, seven are directly appointed by the Cabinet, including the minister and vice minister of the EPA.

The seven government representatives attended all environmental assessment meetings but rarely uttered any views while always backing the government’s policies for economic expansion.

The five environmentalists on the panel said at the press conference that they were forced to give an explanation and a warning on the “inconvenient truth” that the government tends to shun.

Chen Mei-ling, spokeswoman of Premier Su Tseng-chang, defended the Cabinet’s policies and practices.

She stressed that the Cabinet and panelists appointed by the central government never adopted any predetermined stance on any particular investment project.

The Cabinet has been giving priority to the legislation of two new bills to reduce greenhouse gases, as well as the development of renewable energies for the sake of better protecting the environment, she added.