The Yunlin County Government yesterday extended Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s (台塑石化) permits for its coal-fired boilers, upsetting environmentalists’ hopes of reducing air pollution in the county.
On Saturday, the Anti-Air Pollution Alliance and other groups marched in the county’s Douliou City (斗六), urging the county government not to extend the 12 permits at the company’s naphtha cracker plant in the county’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) that expired on Sunday.
More than a thousand people attended the march, alliance spokesperson Chiang Yiao-hsian (蔣耀賢) said.
Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei Times
However, the Yunlin County Environmental Protection Bureau decided to extend the company’s 12 permits, as well as one that was set to expire next month.
The plant’s emissions have to be within the bureau’s standards for pollutants, such as PM2.5 and heavy metals, air quality protection and noise control section chief Liao Chong-huan (廖崇圜) said in a press release yesterday.
The bureau can ask the plant to reduce power generation from October to March when the northeastern monsoon worsens the county’s air quality, he said, adding that the new permits are valid until June 11, 2019.
Since last year, the company’s permits have been extended contingent upon a reduction in the amount of coal burned, with the biggest cut being 532,000 tonnes, the bureau said.
Angry with the result, the alliance asked the Control Yuan to investigate the accountability of Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) and Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), who they said were working to benefit the corporation.
Lee Chin-yung had broken his promise to ban the use of coal and petroleum coke in a draft act prepared and published by the county in 2015, Chiang said.
The EPA rejected that bill, saying the ban was related to nationwide energy policy and could not be implemented by a local government alone, Chiang said, adding that Lee Chin-yung promised he would file for a constitutional interpretation, but failed to do so.
The alliance said it would seek more support and continue its fight against the company.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS