Taipei Times
Date: Sep 12, 2018
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
More than 570 people would die within 15 years once the proposed coal-fired Shenao
Lin Hsien-ho, an associate professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at National Taiwan University, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday about the health risks forecast if the Shenao power plant is rebuilt. Photo: CNA
power plant in Yilan County begins operations due to the air pollution it would produce, a Greenpeace report showed yesterday.
Although the plan to rebuild the plant was approved by the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) Environmental Impact Assessment Committee, one criticism against the plan is that lacks a government assessment of the health risks posed to people living near the plant and farther away.
The Greenpeace health risk assessment was conducted by Lin Hsien-ho (林先和), an associate professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at National Taiwan University (NTU), NTU College of Public Health dean Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權) and Tsuang Ben-jei (莊秉傑), a professor of environmental engineering at National Chung Hsin University.
Their assessment showed that between 2025 and 2040, 576 people would die of heart disease, strokes, lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to constant exposure to fine particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) from the plant, with 145 of them dying before the age of 70. [FULL STORY]