Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday defended amendments to the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法), which passed their third reading at the Legislative Yuan on Monday, calling them a “home run.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) has criticized the bill, which increases the scope of anti-pollution measures and raises fines, calling it a political move timed ahead of the upcoming nine-in-one elections.
Asked about Chiang’s criticism during a Hit FM radio interview, Ker said discussion on the bill began when former premier Lin Chuan (林全) was in office.
Photo courtesy of Hit FM
The Executive Yuan discussed the bill with several government departments and received feedback from the affected industries and local governments, Ker said, adding that the process took more than a year.
The bill could only be sent to the legislature for review after thorough communication between party caucuses, he said.
Chiang is “too inexperienced” and does “not understand how the government operates,” Ker said.
The bill was discussed four times at legislative committee meetings, eight times in meetings with the premier and 40 times during visits to the legislature by Environmental Protection Administration Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), Ker said, adding that was a record for total discussion of a bill.
Among items included in the amendments are a timeline for transitioning to a fully electric public transit system and stipulations requiring the installation of exhaust filtration systems on all large freight vehicles and buses, he said.
The KMT’s concerns about the bill’s allowances for substitutions between stationary and mobile sources of pollution are misguided, because mechanisms remain in place to regulate the overall volume of pollution, Ker said.
Substitutions were allowed under the original law, but the rules were never implemented, he said.
The amendments also broaden the scope of how the negative effects of air pollution are measured, he added.
Ker said he spoke with Lee, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Premier William Lai (賴清德) in the final stages of the bill’s review, adding that Lin convinced the DPP to discuss the bill further before its passage.
“Such an important national policy cannot be decided by one side alone,” Ker said, urging the KMT to look at things more carefully before discrediting others.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
RSS