The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has designated all cities and counties except Taitung as class-three air pollution control zones — the most severe level of pollution according to the agency’s three-class system — due to increased particulate matter (PM) pollution.
The EPA made a low-key announcement about the pollution zone designation on its Web site on Wednesday — a move that an environmental group criticized as being too late and ineffective given a lack of preventive measures.
The increase was due to the inclusion of particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) as a factor for the identification of air pollution control zones. All cities and counties except Taitung had PM2.5 levels that exceeded the legal limit of 15 micrograms per cubic meter.
The EPA included PM2.5 as an air pollution index in 2012, and the Wednesday announcement was made after factoring in PM2.5 monitoring data from 2012 to last year.
The designation raised the number of municipalities recognized as class-three air pollution control zones dramatically from seven last year to 21.
Last year, only six municipalities with heavy industrial pollution in central and southern Taiwan, and Kinmen County were designated class-three zones.
The announcement marked the first time Yilan, Hualien and Penghu have been designated class-three pollution control zones.
The designation is to take effect next year, with stricter environmental regulations being imposed on class-three zones to reduce factory and traffic emissions, the EPA said, adding that local governments have to propose pollution reduction plans.
Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance convener Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) yesterday criticized the EPA for being slow in taking action to reduce pollution.
The agency could have made the designation earlier, so more effective pollution prevention measures could have ben implemented, he said.
The EPA could have made the designation at the end of last year when it was apparent that the three-year averages of PM2.5 levels in most cities exceeded the limit, Yeh said.
The delay means there will be no new pollution prevention measures until the designation takes effect next year, Yeh said, questioning the EPA’s willingness to fight pollution.
“EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan’s (李應元) pledge [to reduce air pollution] was an empty slogan, because I have not seen the agency propose any useful measures to reduce air pollution except to say it is allocating more budget for pollution prevention,” he said.
In June, Lee said the agency would invest NT$30 billion (US$946 million) in air pollution prevention and aims to reduce “red level” air pollution incidents by half in four years.
According to the EPA’s four-color categorization of PM2.5, “red” is the second-most severe level, corresponding to PM2.5 levels of 59 to 64 micrograms per cubic meter.
“Pollution reduction is not a student paper competition. One cannot reduce pollution with pretty slogans,” Yeh said.
“In an anti-air pollution demonstration [in December last year], we asked the government to establish a special task force to reduce pollution. However, we have not seen the new administration take any action,” he added.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS