Environmental groups say plans to convert an oil-fired power plant to natural gas will threaten coral and other marine life on Taiwan's north coast.
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00:00Activists say this underwater ecosystem is under threat.
00:04Taiwan's national power company Taipower
00:06plans to reclaim land here off the north coast,
00:08part of a project to convert an oil-fired power plant
00:11to natural gas.
00:13The economy minister says there's no alternative,
00:15but environmental groups say a rethink is urgently needed,
00:18and biologists agree.
00:31Activists warn that healthy, high-latitude coral
00:34around the planned site will be threatened,
00:36and they say other marine life could suffer as well.
00:54But Taipower says it's done its own environmental surveys
00:56of the area.
00:59It says it has a commitment to protecting the local ecology,
01:02and that critics of the scheme may be presenting
01:04a worst-case scenario.
01:19The company says the project is essential for the country
01:21to maintain a reliable power supply,
01:23and that the switch to natural gas will cut down
01:25air pollution, too.
01:27But these arguments aren't easing the standoff
01:29between the company and environmental groups
01:31worried about the site's future.
01:34James Lin and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.