Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and environmentalists yesterday called on the Taichung City Government to revoke the coal-use permits it has awarded the Taichung Power Plant, which they said is the “dirtiest power plant in the world.”
KMT legislators representing electoral districts in Taichung, andYunlin, Changhua and Nantou counties called a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to address the permit extension issue.
The Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau on Nov. 13 rejected the power plant’s application to extend the permits for nine of its 10 coal-fired generators and required the plant to provide additional documentation within 30 days.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Bureau Director-General Pai Chih-jung (白智榮) on Wednesday said in a statement that the bureau had approved a two-year extension of the plant’s permits, but cut its maximum coal usage by 5 million tonnes, or 24 percent, from the previous limit of 21 million tonnes.
“The permitted amount of coal consumption for Taichung Power Plant has been cut for the first time,” Pai said, adding that the city’s air quality has imrpoved due to the city government’s efforts.
The power plant consumes about 18 million tonnes of coal per year, which means that the bureau only cut about 2 million off the plant’s actual consumption, Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance director Yeh Kuang-peng (葉光芃) said at yesterday’s news conference.
Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) of the Democratic Progressive Party has proposed “jointly managing” regional affairs, but the bureau’s review process did not involve residents in adjacent municipalities who are also affected by the plant’s pollution, Yeh said.
The city government should stop mincing words to conceal the difference between “permitted” consumption and “actual” consumption, he added.
“The city government is playing a game of deception,” KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said. “The city government should revoke its approval for the permit extension.”
Local groups are to voice their demands for better air quality at several activities in front of Taichung City Hall from Monday to Friday next week, Yeh said.
People who want to take part in an anti-pollution march on Dec. 17 initiated by the alliance should dress in gray or black clothes to express their frustration with the nation’s bad air quality, KMT Legislator Lu Hsiu-yen (盧秀燕) said.
The city government said in a statement that KMT lawmakers should not use the pollution issue for their own political benefit, especially if they plan on standing in next year’s mayoral election — an apparent reference to Chiang and Lu, who have said that they will seek their party’s nomination to for Taichung mayor.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS