Happy New Year !

Huben Fairy Pitta: photo courtesy of Richard Yu


Happy New Year,
and all the best for 2009 !



"Because every green measure, every conservation effort and all the little economies we could make in our daily lives, may look insignificant if we choose to look at the big picture. On the other hand, if we view that big picture as millions of little choices made by people just like us, that's how we can come to understand why it's our own choices that are so important."
A comment posted on Birdforum by James Owen.

Brown Shrike

Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) - male, October 2008

Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) - female, September 2008


Fair numbers of Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus winter in the Huben-Hushan Important Bird Area (IBA). The Brown Shrike is listed in lower risk categories of the IUCN's Red Data list of threatened species.


See: Huben-Hushan IBA Bird List

Pacific Swallow

The Pacific Swallow Hirundo tahitica is another common swallow resident in the Huben-Hushan IBA. They can almost always be seen perched on the telephone cables running next to the stream running through the village along with the Striated Swallows.


See: Huben-Hushan IBA Bird List

Striated Swallow

The Striated Swallow Hirundo striolata is a common resident in the Huben-Hushan IBA. Several can almost always be seen perched on the telephone cables running next to the stream running through the village.


See: Huben-Hushan IBA Bird List

Update on the case of Yunlin County Assembly Chief's battery of Robin Winkler during a Formosa Plastics Steel Plant Meeting

Tuesday saw the first hearing, and possibly last, in the High Court appeal of the case involving the Yunlin Assembly Chief Su Chin-huang's battering of Robin Winkler, director of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and a former commissioner on the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Environmental Impact Assessment Commission at a meeting at the Taiwan EPA offices on 7 November 2007. The district court gave Su six months convertible to a fine and Winkler's legal team were able to persuade the prosecutor to appeal. However, in Taiwan this could mean anything (it could mean anything in just about any court system these days). Su has basically changed his story from total denial, to saying he accidentally struck Winkler because he was afraid Winkler was going to batter him, and then finally to saying "in the interest of social costs of these proceedings and serving my constituents better by not having to spend so much time in court, I will admit for the record that I intentionally battered him."

Winkler hasn't accepted Su's admission and it seems that the prosecutor doesn't either, because, the record Su made included his denial -- and that record will be available to him and others to use for their spin. Winkler also asked for the printing of the admission in the newspapers and in the same announcement to promise not to use violence against anyone again. Su pointed out that he is a politician and that it wouldn't be good for him to have the admission printed. The judge seem to support the admission being printed but said that the promise went beyond the scope of the case!

Now, Winkler is to propose language, get Su's agreement, and give it to the court within a week. The prosecutor says Su hasn't admitted anything, and is pressing for a harsher sentence. It is doubtful Su will agree to Winkler's terms.

It is a possibility that Su gets something like a year and then is given three years commutation, at which time the record will basically be expunged. It remains to be seen if the ruling Chinese National Party (KMT) will get involved. President Ma hasn't distanced himself from Su after Su was found guilty.


And then again, we could see "justice served" (?) and they lock Su up for a while. If the court doesn't take a strong stand they will be sending the signal that anyone daring to challenge the EPA/scholars/business cabal....well, beating people up -- is okay.

Also see:
Yunlin County Assembly Head Found Guilty of Battery of Robin Winkler during Formosa Plastics Steel Plant Meeting

Second Investigative Hearing into Assault against Wild at Heart Director at Meeting Involving Humpback Dolphins

Protesters accuse the EPA of protecting big business

Environmental activists denounce EPA

For the background and details of the November 2007 incident, see “Yunlin County Assembly Head Su Chin-Huang Found Guilty of Battery of Robin Winkler during Formosa Plastics Steel Plant Meeting” on the Wild at Heart blog.

Asiatic Toad

The Asiatic Toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus* is a common amphibian resident of the Huben-Hushan Important Bird Area (IBA).

See: Huben-Hushan Frog List

*Some authors place the Asiatic Toad in the Bufo genus so it appears on some lists as Bufo melanosticus. Other English common names for the Asiatic Toad include Spectacled Toad, Common Indian Toad, and Asian Black-spined Toad.

Taipower shenanigans ?

The world's dirtiest power plant. Wuchi Power Plant, Taichung, through the haze.


Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), with its monopoly on power provision and about 60% of the nation's energy production has had some of its antics brought into the open. During Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association Director Robin Winkler's term as commissioner on the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Environmental Impact Assessment Commission, the first and second phases of a proposed power plant of Taipower were reviewed. The proposed plant, in addition to being located midway between the world's first and fifth largest power plant emitters of CO2, would have severely exacerbated the already severely polluted west coast of Taiwan, home to the small and unique critically endangered endemic population of Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins. On the day following the subcommittee's rejection, Winkler was approached at the EPA during another Taipower case by a Taipower employee who in a very serious voice said, "what are we going to do? We already signed the contracts to purchase the equipment for the plants."? Taipower has a reputation for having engaged in illegal and irresponsible practices for years. While the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in power, some of those shenanigans started to come to light. But now that the old Chinese National Party (KMT) is back, the sorts of coincidences reported here are likely to become more commonplace.


[Translation]

Taipower Coal Purchasing Documents Audaciously Stolen on the Eve of Control Yuan Investigation

atnext.com, 12 November 2008

Taiwan's national power company, Taipower, under the leadership of the Ma Ying-jeou Administration, has been alleged to have purchased overpriced fuel coal, causing protracted overpricing of power bills to the country's consumers. Strangely enough, just as Taiwan's national governmental watchdog body, the Control Yuan, was preparing to launch an investigation, the storehouse in which Taipower keeps the files of its external purchasing contracts was burglarized. Even stranger, the only documents stolen in the burglary were the fuel coal purchase agreement documents. The peculiar circumstances of the theft have led to speculation that the burglary was aimed at making evidence disappear.

According to a report in the latest issue of Next Magazine, the Consumer's Foundation had asked the Control Yuan earlier this month to investigate concerns that continuing high power prices, despite a recent 44.65% drop in fuel costs, might indicate foul play. Although the prices of liquefied petroleum gas and fuel oil have both fallen considerably, Taipower has refused to lower power prices, which have gone up twice this year. These circumstances have led the Consumer's Foundation to suspect negligence or malfeasance by Taipower and Ministry of Economic Affairs, prompting the request for a Control Yuan investigation.

The Control Yuan member on duty the day the Control Yuan filed its request, Cheng Jen-hung, formally opened a Control Yuan case with a written recommendation for an on-site investigation. In the lead-up to the investigation, Taipower stated its case to the Control Yuan, but the Control Yuan found the explanations unsatisfactory. Just as the formal investigation was about to get underway, Taipower's document storage room was burglarized, and the document stolen was an important piece of evidence targeted in the Control Yuan investigation. The theft of the document has further fed suspicions that behind-the-scenes forces are at work in the case.

(Translation courtesy of Executive Yuan, Corporate Social Responsbility Center)


A critically endangered Taiwan Humpback Dolphin (bottom left) in the waters off the world's dirtiest power plant. Click to enlarge !


More photos of the Wuchi Power Plant, Taichung, through the haze of pollution.

Indian Rice Frog

The Indian Rice Frog Rana limnocharis is a common amphibian resident of the Huben-Hushan Important Bird Area (IBA).

See: Huben-Hushan Frog List

Photo is courtesy and copyright of Mark Wilkie.

White-lipped Tree Frog

The White-lipped Tree Frog Polypedates megacephalus is one of the Huben-Hushan Important Bird Area's (IBA) resident frog species. The White-lipped Tree Frog is listed in lower risk categories of the IUCN's Red Data list of threatened species and is another reason why the Huben-Hushan IBA needs to be protected and preserved.


White-lipped Tree Frog (Polypedates megacephalus) female, Hushan, May 2008.

White-lipped Tree Frog (Polypedates megacephalus) male, Hushan, May 2008.



See: Hushan Frog List

Swinhoe’s Japalura

The Taiwan endemic Swinhoe’s Japalura Japalura swinhonis is a common reptile resident of the Huben-Hushan Important Bird Area (IBA). Being endemic it is found nowhere else in the world but Taiwan.


See: Huben-Hushan IBA Reptile List


Photo is courtesy and copyright of Mark Wilkie.

Pallas’s Squirrel

Pallas’s Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus is one of the Huben-Hushan Important Bird Area (IBA) resident mammal species. Pallas’s Squirrel is listed in lower risk categories of the IUCN's Red Data list of threatened species.

Pallas’s Squirrel (Callosciurus erythraeus) a common Huben-Hushan IBA resident mammal species


See: Huben-Hushan IBA Mammal List


Photo is courtesy and copyright of Mark Wilkie.