Changhua's national treasure coast faces solar power development; environmental groups urge swift designation as national wetland

In 2011, environmental groups nationwide joined forces to block the Kuo Kuang Petrochemical development project, saving more than 10,000 hectares of precious intertidal wetland along the coast of Fangyuan area in Dacheng Township, Changhua. Unexpectedly, a decade later, this coastal wetland that survived the ordeal now faces a crisis of solar power development.

Singaporean company Meiya Energy held a briefing yesterday (the 26th) stating that it plans to invest in more than ten solar power project sites along the Changhua coast, with the first located on the coastal land outside the seawall in Dacheng Township, named "Haijing New Energy." The project is expected to lease 93.5 hectares of state-owned land from the National Property Administration, with an estimated power generation capacity of 99.975MW.

The Changhua Environmental Protection Union held a press conference today (the 27th) in Taipei at the Legislative Yuan, rallying environmental and ecological groups that had participated in opposing the Kuo Kuang Petrochemical project, as well as the more than 70,000 people nationwide who signed up to adopt the Changhua coastal wetland, to once again plead for the Dacheng Township coast and call on the government to preserve the nation's largest coastal wetland.

Supporting legislator Chen Jiao-hua also believes that once green energy is built in the wrong location and damages the environment, it is no longer clean energy. Earth Citizen Foundation Deputy CEO Tsai Chung-yueh also harshly criticized that the positive value of energy transition should not be affected by a few wrong site selections, and expressed hope that the government would soon scrap this wrongly sited solar power development.

Changhua's precious wetland targeted by foreign company, plans to build solar panels one after another

The Changhua Environmental Protection Union rallied more than twenty environmental groups from across the country that had opposed the Kuo Kuang Petrochemical project to gather at the Legislative Yuan for a press conference, demanding that the government swiftly designate the Zhuoshui River estuary and Changhua coast as a "national-level wetland," and calling on the foreign solar power company to voluntarily withdraw this project and leave the Changhua coastal wetland for ecological restoration!

The Changhua Environmental Protection Union stated that as early as December 17, 2009, the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior had already rated the Zhuoshui River estuary wetland, Changhua Dacheng wetland, and Hanbao wetland as "international-level Changhua coastal wetland," the number one ranked wetland in the country, yet it never received attention due to the Kuo Kuang Petrochemical development project. Now that the Kuo Kuang Petrochemical project has long been halted, the Changhua coast still has not obtained national-level wetland status, leading solar power companies to covet it.

Changhua's wetlands have been successively targeted by companies, with "Haijing New Energy," "Xinzheng Energy," and "Yongyao Energy," which proposed solar power development projects, all backed behind the scenes by the same Singaporean foreign company, Meiya. Facing the encroachment of solar photovoltaic development, the Changhua Environmental Protection Union believes that the foreign company only looks at the short-term profits of solar project sites and has no intention of long-term local operation. They hope the government will immediately announce the Changhua coast as a national-level wetland, giving the precious ecology legally protected status.

70,000 people want to buy the coastal ecological hotspot through a trust, to protect the white dolphin and conserved bird species

"Two former presidents both came to this site, and now we see the entire coast all about to be used for solar panels. How can we bear it?" Changhua Environmental Protection Union Director-General Shih Yueh-ying emphasized that environmental groups do not oppose green energy, but oppose wrong site selection. "This is a first-class coastal protection zone!"

The Changhua Wild Bird Society has continuously monitored the birds along this coast since the Kuo Kuang Petrochemical protest, finding that more than two hundred species of birds inhabit the area, including 35 protected species. The globally renowned Oriental stork has a population at the Zhuoshui River estuary, and the East Asian endemic Saunders's gull also uses this as a stopover point. Changhua Bird Society Director-General Li Yi-hsin said that some companies and even the government consider coastal intertidal zones to be wasteland, suitable for renewable energy development. "But coastal intertidal zones are absolutely not wasteland; they are a very important treasure trove of biodiversity."

The Environmental Information Association filed a "Zhuoshui River Estuary Reclaimed Land Public Interest Trust" application with the Ministry of the Interior at the time, obtaining more than 70,000 people across Taiwan to subscribe shares, intending to formally purchase the coastal wetland from the government to protect the white dolphin. Deputy Secretary-General Sun Hsiu-ju stated that the government should swiftly protect this nationally important wetland, that green energy development should not conflict with ecological conservation, and called on all 70,000 shareholders to pay attention to this Changhua coastal solar power crisis and give the white dolphin and the people and life that depend on the sea a safe environment to survive.

Three generations of fishermen have worked hard for decades, achieving land from the sea and unwilling to give up

On the Changhua coastal wetland, there is also a reclaimed land aquaculture area of nearly sixty to seventy hectares. This aquaculture area was originally within the wetland scope, but is agricultural land maintained through long-term reclamation by fishermen. It has now also been included in the scope of the solar power "Haijing New Energy Development Project."

Since this is the first of more than ten development sites by the Meiya Group on the Changhua coastal wetland, it has particularly attracted the attention of local environmental groups, becoming the first case where the two forces intersect. However, besides the conflict between environmental protection and development, there is also the survival issue of aquaculture fishermen.

Local aquaculture farmer Hsu Chia-fa stated that most of them are second- and third-generation aquaculture farmers on that coast, and solar power companies should first respect the principle of first come, first served. Third-generation aquaculture farmer Hsu Yuan-hsiung said that the reclaimed land was established by aquaculture farmers surviving on their own outside the coastal seawall. In earlier years, the government encouraged aquaculture, and fishermen built land from the sea through their own efforts, taking decades to reach the current scale. Although the regulatory environment has changed and the National Property Administration is unwilling to continue leasing the land, that does not mean fishermen's right to survival should be trampled. "We will absolutely not easily retreat."

Fisherman Cheng Wei-cheng stated that counting from when the previous generation took over, the family aquaculture has a foundation of 3 to 40 years. If they have to relocate, the production environment would be different, almost equivalent to starting over. "It doesn't matter whether we earn more or less; what we want is a stable life, at least one that can be sustained."

Developer: Will build a solar power city on barren land, hoping to prosper the local area

Development unit Singaporean company "Meiya Green Energy Company" Development Director Li Chao-ming stated that at the current stage, the Haijing New Energy project site has obtained the lease rights from the National Property Administration and land development consent. More than ten project sites will be developed successively in the future. Meiya has successful experience in Japan, developing coastal "barren land" into a "solar science city."

The development unit explained that although this project is located in a first-class coastal protection zone, the development process will follow regulations and the existing land environment, will not cause large-scale disturbance, and on the contrary will add buffer green belts and ecological compensation areas. They are confident of obtaining permission from the "Ocean Management Review Committee." He also emphasized that this area itself is not suitable for farming, and they have simultaneously applied to the Council of Agriculture for land reclassification and have already obtained the Bureau of Energy's establishment permission and filing consent.

In response to environmental groups' doubts that the foreign company is merely using solar power development for financing and loans with no intention of long-term operation, Li Chao-ming emphasized that the company is confident about growing together with the local area. Future construction and operation will generate substantial local consumption, and future construction workforce will prioritize local hiring. They also promised to give Changhua County Government a annual feedback payment of 2 million to subsidize nutritional lunches and community needs.

The developer also claims that most of the aquaculture fishermen on the 60 to 70 hectares of the current "Haijing project site" have not signed leases with the National Property Administration and belong to illegal aquaculture. For illegal aquaculture farmers occupying the land, the company has already fulfilled its communication responsibility and tried its best to propose coordinated compensation conditions, but regrettably no consensus was reached.