TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Residents and environmental groups opposed to a proposed incinerator in Nantou County’s Mingjian Township called Thursday for the project to be halted after infrared cameras reportedly recorded leopard cats near the site.
The Mingjian Anti-Incinerator Self-Help Association said cameras installed near the proposed 7.5-hectare site recorded leopard cats on July 29 and Aug. 19. The sightings suggest the area is an important habitat and movement corridor for the endangered species, per SETN.
However, the Nantou County Environmental Protection Bureau said the images have not been independently verified. The site is undergoing geological surveys and groundwater monitoring, with four-season ecological surveys to follow after drilling is completed.
The group said developing the incinerator could damage leopard cat habitat, disrupt wildlife corridors, and increase the risk of roadkill as construction vehicles and garbage trucks increase traffic.
The proposed site is on state-owned land designated as a special agricultural zone in Mingjian’s Xinmin Village. It is near about 2,250 hectares of tea plantations, rice-growing areas, and the Babao irrigation system.
At a news conference Thursday, residents and local farmers urged Nantou County Magistrate Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) to reconsider the site. They said the project could affect agriculture, water resources, and local livelihoods.
Nantou County magistrate candidate Wen Shih-cheng (温世政) said more than 60% of Mingjian’s economy relies on the tea industry. While acknowledging that Nantou must address its waste-disposal problem, he said an incinerator in Mingjian should not be the only option.
Wen proposed combining waste reduction, improved sorting, food-waste recycling, and optimization of existing incineration facilities. The association called for an immediate halt to drilling and monitoring-well work, ecological surveys before further construction, and consideration of a leopard cat protection area along the Zhuoshui River.
The environmental bureau said that if official surveys confirm leopard cat activity, it would consider measures including avoidance, reducing the project’s scale, mitigation, and compensation.
Nantou has no municipal waste incinerator and relies on other cities and counties to process its waste. The county government’s proposed Nantou Waste Treatment and Renewable Energy Center completed its second-stage environmental impact assessment scope meeting in May.
