Science Magazine
Date: Nov. 21, 2018
By: Andrew Silver

Taiwanese scientists fight construction of a new port they say would damage a unique reef.  JUSMIN PENG

TAIPEI—Taiwanese scientists and environmental groups are fighting to stop the planned construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal off the coast of Datan borough in the city of Taoyuan on Taiwan’s northwestern coast, which they say will damage a unique algal reef ecosystem. About 100 people gathered on the beach on 17 November to call for the project to be moved to another site.

The proposed terminal will span 9 square kilometers and include a U-shaped port with a bridge connecting it to two LNG storage tanks to be built in an existing industrial park nearby.

Taiwan’s new energy policy aims to phase out nuclear energy by 2025 and increase the share of natural gas in electricity generation to 50%. (Renewables will make up 20%, and coal the rest.) To meet those goals, a power plant in Datan will be expanded, and the only way to meet its demand schedule, according to the state-owned oil and gas firm CPC, is to build the LNG terminal nearby.

But scientists say construction will further damage a 27-kilometer reef along the Taoyuan coastline built up over 7500 years by a group of pink and purple algal species named crustose coralline algae. The reef is home to a wide variety of species, including hammerhead sharks, six species of moray eels, and the largest population of Polycyathus chaishanensis, an endangered coral species endemic to Taiwan that was first described in 2010.    [FULL  STORY]