The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said a poll released by Global View Monthly magazine yesterday that found nuclear power has garnered more support was “biased and employed too many suggestive questions.”
Asked if they felt there had been any changes to the air quality in their neighborhood compared with two years ago, 63.6 percent of respondents said the air quality had worsened, with those living in southern and central regions agreeing more strongly.
Asked for comment, EPA Deputy Minister Chan Shun-kuei (詹順貴) said the agency would work harder to narrow the difference between its data and the public’s perception.
Levels of most air pollutants, including particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide, have greatly decreased from 2013 to last year, EPA data showed.
The annual average concentration of fine particulate matter dropped from 24 micrograms per cubic meter in 2015 to 18.4 micrograms per cubic meter last year, the EPA said.
After the agency’s draft amendments to the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法) are passed by the Legislative Yuan, they would require large emitters of pollution, such as power plants, steelmakers and petrochemical companies, to upgrade their pollution control facilities to achieve “the lowest achievable emissions rate,” Chan said.
The poll found that 57.9 percent of respondents support the use of nuclear power, with 70.5 percent of those aged between 18 and 29 expressing more support.
Respondents were asked whether they would accept occasional power shortages or rationing as the government aims to achieve its “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025 policy, to which 69.6 percent responded in the negative.
A total of 54.7 percent of respondents said the government should consider making the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), which was mothballed in 2014, operational if there was a potential power shortage.
There is no direct correlation between the phasing out of nuclear power and energy shortages, said Chao Chia-wei (趙家緯), a postdoctoral researcher at National Taiwan University’s Societal Risk and Policy Research Center.
To survey people’s opinions about different energy options, the poll should provide complete information about the potential cost of various energy sources, Chao said, adding that the poll has little reference value due to its explicit attempts to suggest answers.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching