The Yunlin County Government yesterday said it would seek a constitutional interpretation on its ban on burning petroleum coke and coal, which was rejected by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Monday, which said the county government lacked jurisdiction.
To fight air pollution, the county government announced the ban in June to prohibit the burning of petroleum coke from June next year and coal from June 2017.
The EPA on Monday rejected the plans, saying they involved national energy policies and regulations that fall within the jurisdiction of the central government according to the Energy Administration Act (能源管理法) and the Local Government Act (地方制度法).
Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei Times
The county government rejected the EPA’s ruling, citing a clause of the Local Government Act that stipulates the invalidation of a bylaw due to contradiction of its superior laws should be declared by the Executive Yuan and other authorities, not the EPA.
Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said the county government would seek a constitutional interpretation from the Judicial Yuan on whether the bans run counter to the acts.
Lee said the county government would also request that the Legislative Yuan rule on the matter, as the Local Government Act stipulates that the Legislative Yuan should interfere where there is a dispute between the central government and a local government over scopes of power.
Lawyer Wang Fu-ching (王服清) said that what is not codified in the Constitution falls within the jurisdiction of local governments, and there is no clause in the Constitution that clearly deals with environmental issues, thereby making the ban a matter of local governance.
The central government has no exclusive legislative right on environmental protection policy, Wang said.
Wang said that the bans did not involve taxation and disciplinary measures, but the EPA used its right of review to veto the bans, which was an act of superimposing the central government’s administrative right over the local government’s legislative right.
Lawyer Lin Liang-yu (林亮宇) said the central government’s energy management is based on principles different from those of local governments’ environmental policies, but the central government nevertheless used the Energy Administration Act to reject the Yunlin decision.
Lee said that the central government has forsaken its mandate to protect the environment and the public’s health, and has sided with large business groups for the sake of economic growth and at the expense of national health.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai