The Yunlin County Council yesterday passed local legislation prohibiting the county’s industries from burning soft coal and petroleum coke, but environmental campaigners voiced concern that the central government might reject the regulations, sinking their campaign against air pollution.
Anti-PM2.5 Youth Action Alliance convener Chang Chia-wei (張家偉) said that yesterday marked the first council session to discuss the bylaw, which county councilors put to a vote and passed before noon.
The outcome was “totally unexpected,” Chang said.
Photo: Chan Shih-hung, Taipei Times
He said that the bylaw’s passage could inspire other municipalities in central and southern Taiwan to follow up on banning the fuels, thereby improving air quality.
However, he said that the bylaw, proposed by Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was passed without a plenary of the DPP caucus, which he suspected could be due to conflicting stances on the issue among county councilors and the county government.
Citing a statement by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Chang said that there is a high probability that the bylaw would be rejected by the Executive Yuan, which could reflect badly on the county government, as it would draw on public opinion that Lee was just “putting on a show” about cutting industrial air pollution.
The ministry last month said that if all six central and southern Taiwan municipalities that signed a petition against the use of soft coal and petroleum coke were to ban the fuels from being used at coal-fired power plants, Taiwan would face a nationwide power shortage.
According to Chang, some county councilors who attended the session yesterday said that Lee has the authority to deny power plants permits to burn the fuels and that Lee could be using the county council as a “scapegoat” to circumvent public censure if the bylaw is rejected.
Meanwhile, employees of Mailiao Power Corp, a Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) subsidiary that manages a naphtha cracker in Yunlin, said the ban would result in many of the workers there losing their jobs.
Corporation union director Wang Chen-wei (王鎮緯) said that the permits for two power plants in the complex to use soft coal and petroleum coke would expire next month and in July respectively, and if Lee does not renew the plants’ permits, they might go bankrupt or close down.
He called on Lee to renew the permits.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association founder Robin Winkler called Mailiao Power’s remarks a “classic ploy” of an industry trying to avoid its responsibilities by pitting a labor rights issue against an environmental one.
Winkler questioned the legitimacy of Mailiao Power’s statement, saying that the company is attempting to create a “false issue.”
Meanwhile, the ministry poured cold water on the Yunlin Country Government legislation, saying that it would affect the nation’s power generation and the public’s right to electricity.
Citing Article 6 of the Energy Administration Act (能源管理法) and Article 20 of the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣汙染防制法), the Bureau of Energy said it is the central government that has the authority to ban the burning of petroleum coke and coal for power generation.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)