The Yunlin County Government on Thursday requested the Mai-liao Power Plant in the county’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) to reduce its output due to high levels of air pollutants recently recorded in central and southern Taiwan, after the Taichung Power Plant lowered its output earlier this week.
The Taichung Power Plant — the largest coal-fired plant in the world — reduced its power generation on Sunday and Monday by 18 percent, as the density of fine particulate matter under 25 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) had reached hazardous levels.
The PM2.5 concentrations had reached “purple” levels — the most severe degree of PM2.5 pollution according to the Environmental Protection Administration’s four-color categorization — in Yunlin again yesterday due to the weakening of seasonal wind, which was unable to dissipate pollutants, the administration said.
The county government said that the Mailiao plant is the sixth-largest coal-fired plant in the world and has a significant impact on local air quality, and should likewise lower its capacity during peak pollution seasons.
“The Taichung Power Plant temporarily reduced its power output by 1 million kilowatts in response to soaring pollution levels at the request of the Taichung City Government,” Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said. “How could the Mai-liao plant not do the same?”
Air pollution is usually severe between October and March every year, when the northeastern monsoon carries pollutants from China, adding to the pollution caused by local industry and vehicle emissions, Lee said.
To combat air pollution, the Mailiao plant should lower its output to reduce emissions, and the county government should coordinate with the plant on special measures during peak pollution seasons, Lee said.
Formosa Plastics Group, the Mailiao plant’s operator, said that it would cooperate with the county government after it has communicated with state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), as the Mailiao plant is contractually required to supply electricity to Taipower.
The air quality in areas surrounding Formosa Plastics’ naphtha cracker complex — where the Mailiao plant is located — in the township was good in summer, but haze has emerged in the autumn, as pollutants from abroad, as well as emissions caused by the burning of biomass and vehicle exhaust, have accumulated in the areas, which is the main cause of the recent air pollution, Formosa Plastics said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods