CHINESE pink dolphins earned a reprieve yesterday when the Advisory Council on the Environment, in a unprecedented vote, rejected plans to build an aviation fuel depot at Sha Chau which would supply fuel to the new airport.
The council reviews the environmental soundness of major building projects and without its stamp of approval these projects cannot begin. Although the council has expressed concern in the past it has never rejected a project.
The Provisional Airport Authority (PAA) had planned to build a temporary aviation fuel depot at Sha Chau which would supply fuel to the new airport for five to seven years. Tsing Yi Island is the most likely site for a permanent fuel depot and pipeline to Chek Lap Kok.
The council refused to endorse the PAA's plan because it felt not enough was known about the effect the depot would have on the rare Chinese pink dolphins which swim in the shallow waters of Sha Chau.
'This council, over the years, has been very conscious of the urgency of the airport project as a major factor,' council chairman Professor Wang Gungwu said.
'We have been extremely willing to bend over backwards to accept EIAs (environmental impact assessments).