Hundreds of truck drivers and labor rights advocates yesterday formed a 1km procession of trucks and other vehicles in front of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to protest a plan to tighten emissions requirements for old vehicles.
Shouting slogans such as “we do not want air pollution, but we want comprehensive measures [to combat it] (反空污, 要配套),” their protest targeted the newly amended Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法), which allows the EPA to tighten emissions standards for cars that are more than 10 years old.
The law also empowers local governments to create air quality regulation zones and bar old cars that fail to meet standards.
Photo: CNA
Truck drivers from all across Taiwan yesterday gathered at the city’s Dajia Riverside Park (大佳河濱公園) and at 9am drove about 500 vehicles toward the EPA on Zhonghua Road in Ximending (西門町), said Left Party (左翼聯盟) member Lin Shan-ching (林深靖), who organized the protest.
After the amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) last year, the air pollution amendments are another heavy blow for the working class, which the government forces to replace old vehicles under the “pretext” of regulating mobile pollution sources, Lin said.
Anticipating the protest, the EPA yesterday morning said in a statement that it would seek to lower interest rates on vehicle loans to 3 to 5 percent by subsidizing 1 percentage point of the interest.
Protesters said that a truck can cost NT$4 million (US$130,907) and the EPA’s subsidies are insufficient.
The agency should help drivers obtain zero-interest loans and that they only need to repay when they start to turn a profit, National Old Vehicles Self-Help Group member Yan Kun-chuan (顏坤泉) said.
EPA Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ping-hui (謝炳輝) told protesters that the agency is still working on the implementation of the new emissions standards, and is drafting regulations.
The protesters were angered by Hsieh’s inability to make promises and escalated their protest and demanded a meeting with EPA Deputy Minister Chan Shun-kuei (詹順貴), which they were granted.
More than 10 representatives met with Chan at the EPA.
The agency would discuss existing air quality regulation zones with local governments and check with vehicle manufacturers whether installing engine filters would reduce engine power, as the protesters claimed, Chan said after the meeting.
The EPA is to hold four public meetings to solicit views about new emissions standards, with the first scheduled in Taichung on July 31 and the rest in Changhua County, Kaohsiung and Tainan next month, Chan added.
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