Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday asked government officials to better explain the administration’s air pollution control and energy policies to the public, after a referendum requiring the government to reduce thermal power generation was passed by voters last month.
Referendum #7, which was held alongside the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, asked voters: “Do you agree that the share of thermal power in the annual energy structure should be reduced by at least 1 percent per year on average?”
The referendum result was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, where Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers asked government officials to explain how they planned to achieve the goal.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Economic Affairs needs to consult relevant agencies and would next month present draft guidelines on how to achieve the goal, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said.
The ministry is evaluating to what degree such a reduction would improve the nation’s air quality, given that PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — emitted by thermal power plants account for only 4.5 to 9.9 percent of domestically produced PM2.5 pollution, Tseng said, citing Environmental Protection Agency data released at the end of last year.
DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said the referendum question was misleading, because what people really want is to cut the amount of air pollutants emitted by power plants.
The EPA should explain to the public the difference between the three, he said, adding that the referendum results have helped the DPP understand the importance of properly explaining its policies.
The ministry should also better explain its renewable power policy, as some people are questioning whether the nation’s renewable power prices are more expensive than other countries, DPP Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) said.
People are exploiting public concerns over the government’s alleged waste of funds to spread misinformation, so officials must explain their policies more clearly to make sure that everyone can easily understand them, Lin added.
The nation’s air quality has been improving, EPA Acting Minister Tsai Hung-teh (蔡鴻德) said, adding that the annual average PM2.5 concentration has fallen from 18.3 micrograms per cubic meter last year to 17.4 micrograms per cubic meter as of last month.
Asked by lawmakers if the agency might collect a carbon tax, Tsai said it is one of the options to curb carbon emissions, but added that government agencies have yet to reach a consensus on the matter.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS