Several environmental groups on Thursday invited the three presidential candidates to attend a rally against air pollution to take place in front of Taichung City Hall tomorrow.
At a news conference, environmental campaigners, wearing masks of the candidates’ faces and Santa suits, asked who would be able to deliver the “best Christmas present” of a “zero coal Taichung Power Plant” and a “zero coal Sixth Naphtha Cracker Project.”
The groups, led by Air Clean Taiwan, requested that the presidential candidates, if elected, commit to phasing out the use of coal at the Taichung Power Plant during their four-year term.
Photo: CNA
Yeh Guang-perng (葉光芃), initiator of Air Clean Taiwan and a physician, said the Taichung Power Plant was one of the worst carbon emitters in the world, citing a speech by former US vice president Al Gore at the COP28 climate conference.
The groups said that Nantou County’s Jhushan Township (竹山) and Puli Township (埔里) have the highest concentrations of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers) due to the plant.
Yeh called on Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) to work with neighboring counties to convert the Taichung Power Plant to natural gas.
Physicians practicing in central Taiwan also appealed for the conversion for the sake of the health and well-being of residents, especially children.
The Taichung Power Plant consists of 10 coal-fired steam turbine generators with a combined capacity of 5,500 megawatts, according to state-run Taiwan Power Co’s Web site.
It is the nation’s largest thermal power plant.
The Sixth Naphtha Cracker Project is a petrochemical complex owned by Formosa Plastics Group in Yunlin County, which has been criticized repeatedly over its environmental record since opening in the 1990s.
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