Solar power operators pay a personal "courtesy call" on the Miaoli County magistrate; conservation groups slam backroom negotiation; Miaoli County Government: the three-stage review will not be abolished

Shallow-mountain solar power in Miaoli has sparked controversy over leopard cat conservation and the environment. With their applications blocked, solar power operators went straight to the magistrate's office at the Miaoli County Government today (the 31st) to negotiate, prompting accusations of a closed-door meeting to "fix" the development. Conservation groups held a press conference in the cold wind in front of the Miaoli County Government today, angrily denouncing "collusion between officials and business" and a situation where the referee is also a player. They noted that in October this year the Miaoli County Government established a "three-stage review" system, bringing in relevant experts to vet and screen ecologically sensitive locations, a move that leads the whole country, and urged the county government not to cripple itself.

According to the "meeting notice" issued by the Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation System Business Association, the stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss "applications that obtained feeder lines before July 31 to continue under the old review process". The Taiwan Leopard Cat Conservation Association pointed out that the solar power operators intend to keep the old review process, seeking to bypass the newly established three-stage review. If all 225 current applications pass, hundreds of hectares of hillside farmland will be destroyed. Not only will the leopard cat suffer, it will be a catastrophe for the shallow-mountain ecological environment.

After the meeting, the Miaoli County Government said the solar power operators had only come to pay a courtesy call, not to hold a meeting, and that the three-stage review would continue and would not be abolished.