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Lawmakers tell firms to lower emissions further

Although “mega carbon emitters” such as coal-fired power plants and steel plants are working on reducing carbon emissions, their efforts are still not enough to tilt the scale back to acceptable levels, a group of legislators said during a trip to China Steel Corp (CSC) and Taiwan Power Company’s (Taipower) Dalin (大林) plant in Kaohsiung City on Thursday.

The Environment Protection Administration (EPA) conducted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of Dragon Steel Corp, a unit of China Steel, and Taipower’s Dalin plant earlier this month.

While Dragon Steel’s expansion proposal received a conditional pass, with the EPA demanding it cut its emission by 15 percent, Taipower’s Dalin plant’s proposal to expand its single coal-burning generator operation into a four-generator plant was rejected.

“We can’t say that we are good in reducing emissions yet, but we are determined to do our best,” said CSC president Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) in response to legislators’ comments that the company, which emits about 20 million tonnes of carbon a year, is the largest carbon contributor in Kaohsiung.

“As long as the steel industry exists, emissions will inevitably occur. However, with the installation of environmental protection equipment, which has so cost CSC NT$32 billion (US$1.05 billion) in investments, the company has been able to save 4 million tonnes in carbon by recycling by-products such as heat waste and granulated blast furnace slag,” Chen said.

“If we are given more time, we can modify all our older machines so that we can further lower our emissions,” Chen said.

Taipower also voiced confidence that it could reduce its emissions in line with the proposed new carbon emission regulations, but added that it would need new power generators to meet electricity demand.

“If the Dalin plant could get four new [coal-fired] generators, we can reduce our emissions by 10 percent compared with using our old machines,” said Paul Lee (李建平), deputy director of Taipower’s industrial safety and environmental protection department.

Despite the companies’ efforts, lawmakers said that their “mega emissions” continued to far outpace their carbon savings.

“Though CSC has set a good example for other businesses in its carbon reduction effort, its emissions still account for 51 percent of Kaohsiung City’s total emissions, or a tenth of the national total,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Mike Chung (鍾紹和) said.

“Taipower’s Dalin plant produces 8.74 million tonnes of carbon annually, which is 22 percent of the city’s total; with the four proposed generators, that number will soar to 17.69 million tonnes,” Chung said.

Quoting a recent report that Kaohsiung residents have a life expectancy that is four years shorter than people who live in the north, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said that the businesses were in essence making a profit at the expense of public health.

“As they account for 73 percent of Kaohsiung’s total emissions, CSC and the Dalin power plant have the corporate responsibility to make drastic reductions now instead of waiting for the law to pass,” Mercy on the Earth secretary-general Lee Ken-Cheng (李根政) said.


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