A draft of Taiwan's first law regulating the emission of greenhouses gases is scheduled to be completed by the end of June in the Executive Yuan. But recent public hearings on the draft law, the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) version was severely criticized by not only representatives of the industry but environmental groups as well.
EPA officials said last week that opinions from different sectors would be taken into account and a revised draft would be sent to the Executive Yuan in June.
Last week at the Legislative Yuan, EPA Minister Chang Juu-en (
"We strongly promote concepts involving energy conservation and energy efficiency [and conservation]. But we also need a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in Taiwan as soon as possible," Chang said.
According to the EPA, if the draft is sent to the Executive Yuan for review in June, it can be transferred to the Legislative Yuan by the end of this year.
Chang said the EPA has compiled draft regulations on the control of six kinds of greenhouse gases and will put them up for discussion at several public hearings and the June National Energy Conference.
According to Chang, new regulations will be drawn up to specify the shared duties of the government, industry and the public. In addition, a comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gas emissions will be carried out.
However, legislators said that a resolution on adjusting the structure of industry in Taiwan was missing from the draft.
"One of the conclusions from the 1998 National Energy Conference was to gradually phase out energy-intensive industries in Taiwan. But we don't see that the EPA has a strategy on that," Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang To-far (
Wang asked what the EPA's stance was on the Cabinet's newly-proposed economic development projects for petrochemicals and steel. Government statistics estimate that 23 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be produced every year as a result of the new projects -- nearly 10 percent of the nation's total carbon dioxide emissions in 2000.
"Will the EPA seriously consider the environmental impact assessments of these new projects, which would lead to a significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions?" Wang asked.
Chang said carbon dioxide emissions would be reviewed by the agency's EIA Committee. There was no resolution on the controversy. of the two new economic projects involving increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Last Friday, at the EPA's public hearing, Mary Chen (
"I really don't get it. Why does the law still tolerate the existence of energy-intensive industry in Taiwan? Is the government really sincere about curbing greenhouse gas emissions?" Chen said.
Ho Soon-ching (何舜琴), director-general of the Bureau of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control, said the ministry would likely change the structure of industry in Taiwan in response to international pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Representatives of Chinese Petroleum Corp, however, questioned the feasibility of phasing out energy-intensive industries. Niven Huang (黃正忠), secretary-general of the Taiwan branch of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, said the issue of curbing greenhouse gas emissions had to be fully discussed by all governmental agencies involved.
"We have to show our commitment to curbing Taiwan's greenhouse gas emissions, but not set a specific goal for the reduction," Huang said.
According to Huang, Taiwan's master plan for emissions reduction has to be made available soon to companies, as a reference for their long-term planning strategies.
Ministry officials said last week that since the Cabinet set the tone for a Nuclear-Free Homeland policy, nuclear energy would not be regarded as an alternative for carbon dioxide emissions reduction.
Officials said the main goals for the next National Energy Conference on June 20 will include the promotion of renewable energy industries and energy efficiency.
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