The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday demanded that the coal-fired Ho-Ping Power plant in Hualien County submit additional documents for further environmental review over its request to increase coal imports from Australia.
The agency made the remarks after an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Committee convened earlier in the day to discuss the plant’s plan to import more Australian coal.
The plant has been searching for new sources of coal since a self-imposed ban on coal imports from Russia and Indonesia’s ban on coal exports have reduced the nation’s coal supplies.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
The plan to import more Australian coal would be necessary to maintain the plant’s operations, it said.
Over the past decade, Australia exported 42.4 percent of the world’s coal, while 43.4 percent came from Indonesia, 14 percent from Russia and 2 percent from South Africa, the plant said.
The plant requested more flexibility in coal sources to ensure a stable supply of electricity, as coal that produces medium to low levels of the particulate pollutant coal ash is difficult to source.
The plant estimates that the firing process of Australian coal, which contains a high level of coal ash, would lead to a one-third increase of bottom ash and fly ash byproduct.
It requested the coal ash cap be raised from 12 percent to 16 percent, adding that the additional bottom ash and fly ash byproduct would be reused by the nearby Hoping Cement Plant to minimize the environmental impact.
However, EIA committee members stated that as pollutants increase, the plant would need more electricity and vehicles to remove the waste, which would contribute to carbon emissions.
The committee added that it was concerned about the impact of heavy metal contamination on local health and the environment, as the amount of lead and cadmium contained in Australian coal is still not entirely known.
The committee asked the plant to submit a report analyzing the different types of coal and their respective environmental impacts.
To modify an already approved EIA, the plant would need to show that the total amount of pollutants would not increase when using more Australian coal.
If the committee approves the plant’s report, the plan would then need to be accepted by the EPA before being adopted.
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