The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday defended its plan to tighten concentration standards for several air pollutants, saying it did not change those governing PM2.5 — particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — because of feasibility concerns.
The agency in May announced draft amendments to the Standards of Air Quality (空氣品質標準) and held three public hearings in Kaohsiung, Taipei and Taichung to gather opinions.
The new benchmarks were proposed to further improve the nation’s air quality after major amendments to the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法) were promulgated in August last year, Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ping-hui (謝炳輝) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Liu Li-ren, Taipei Times
The daily average PM10 concentration standard would be tightened from 125 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) to 100mcg/m3, while the yearly concentration standard would be changed from 65mcg/m3 to 50mcg/m3, the agency said.
The standard for regulating the hourly average concentration of sulfur dioxide would be tightened from 0.25 parts per million (ppm) to 0.075ppm, while the yearly average would be changed from 0.03ppm to 0.02ppm, it said.
The hourly standard for nitrogen dioxide levels would be tightened from 0.1ppm to 0.25ppm, and the yearly average from 0.05ppm to 0.03ppm, the agency said.
Its existing standard for lead is a monthly average of 1mcg/m3, which would be lowered to a three-month average of 0.15mcg/m3, it said.
The PM2.5 standards — a yearly average of 15mcg/m3 and a daily average of 35mcg/m3 — would remain the same, it said.
The agency should follow WHO standards and set the yearly average concentration of PM2.5 at 10mcg/m3, Air Clean Taiwan chairman Yeh Guang-perng (葉光芃) said on Wednesday.
The agency should also establish standards for dioxin and heavy metals that pose carcinogenic risks to humans, Hsu Hsin-hsin (許欣欣), a member of the Taichung branch of the Homemakers’ United Foundation, said on the same day.
The EPA understands the expectation for better air quality, but tends to adopt more practical goals, especially as meeting its current goals is already challenging, Hsieh said yesterday.
Last year, the yearly average concentration of PM2.5 was 17.5mcg/m3, which was better than previous years, but has not yet reached the agency’s goal of 15mcg/m3, he said.
After the new standards come into effect later this year, local municipalities would be required to submit air pollution control plans over a four-year period, Hsieh added.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS