The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday proposed a draft amendment to add the semiconductor and photonics industries to its emission monitoring system.
The proposed amendment was drafted in response to the case of missing data at Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s naphtha cracker in Yunlin County last year, EPA Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Director Tsai Hung-te (蔡鴻德) said.
The incident was brought to light in January by Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, which has been keeping track of the company’s emissions on the EPA’s continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS).
The group said thousands of the plant’s entries on the system from January to November last year disappeared, including 262 that could have earned the company fines.
Tsai said the plant’s emission data entries did not show up at the time because the company had made annotations that said it was repairing or maintaining the facilities.
However, the EPA found that 12 of the annotation entries were not true, and the company has been fined for three false entries, he said.
The draft amendment proposes that emission data be sealed in the CEMS once they are uploaded, which would prevent companies from secretly revising their entries.
It also proposes including more sectors into the emission monitoring system, which currently covers the electricity, cement, steelmaking, petrochemical, paper-making and waste incineration industries, Tsai said.
The proposal would add semiconductors, exhaust burning, photonics and tape-making industries to the system, which means another 145 companies and 538 exhausts would be regulated, he added.
As for Formosa’s naphtha cracker, the system has monitored its 34 exhausts that emit 79 percent of oxysulfide emissions and 68 percent of nitrogen oxides, he said, adding that 54 more exhausts would be monitored.
Tsai said the EPA hopes the proposed regulatory amendment can be implemented in October.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS