Amid growing public demand for action to combat air pollution, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) yesterday called on the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to address issues in a draft bill for an emissions-capping system targeting factories and science parks in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung air quality zone.
Citing statistics published by the agency, Chiu said that in 2013, Kaohsiung recorded the second-worst PM2.5 — particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less — pollution level in the nation, with annual PM2.5 readings taken in the Daliao District (大寮) reaching 45.4 micrograms per cubic meter of air — three times the value recommended by the EPA.
Furthermore, the EPA said that the Kaohsiung-Pingtung air quality zone has the most serious air pollution issue due to its high concentration of smelting, petrochemical and power plants.
Chiu said the draft bill put forward by the EPA last month presented several problems.
The draft states that emissions caps would be based on the largest amount of emissions by a facility over the past seven years from the day a proprietor files an application for the cap. To effectively cut emissions, the caps should instead be set according to the average emissions over the past seven years, Chiu said.
Regarding businesses that plan to set up plants in the region being required to purchase remaining quotas not used by existing facilities, Chu said that such trading should only take place between establishments within the air quality zone.
He urged the EPA not to bow to pressure from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and corporations, and act in a fashion safeguarding public health.
In response, EPA Department of Air Quality and Noise Control senior engineer Wu Cheng-tao (吳正道) said the EPA is in talks with environmental watchdog groups, as well as the Kaohsiung and Pingtung governments.
It plans to implement the capping system by June, after the bill is finalized, he said.
Separately, Taiwan Water Resources Protection Union spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) yesterday criticized the draft bill over a provision that states emissions from projects that have passed an environmental impact assessment might be governed by the maximum permissible amount of emissions granted to developers by local governments, which is usually much higher than measured emissions.
The entire emissions capping policy would be useless if this method is adopted, Chen said, adding that the stipulation on maximum permissible emissions should be canceled before the policy comes into effect.
In related news, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) last week accused the EPA of contravening the Air Pollution Prevention Act (空氣汙染防治法) over a provision in the draft bill that states emissions quotas from defunct facilities might be transferred to developers who file new development plans.
She said that the legislation is what gives the EPA its authority to enforce the capping system and does not include provisions for the emissions trading mechanism espoused by the EPA, demanding that the EPA amend the draft.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS