The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation.
The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017.
The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan. 26, 2020,” and was changed to: “reduce coal use by 40 percent before Jan. 26, 2020.”
Photo: Taipei Times
The bureau on Nov. 29, 2019, sent personnel to inspect the plant and fined it NT$3 million for failing to achieve the coal reduction goal in the revised permit provisions. It again fined the plant NT$6 million on Dec. 14, 2019, for failing to make improvements, which contravened the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法). On Dec. 23, 2019, it gave the plant a third fine, NT$9 million, and revoked its permit on Jan. 1, 2020, for the same reason.
The bureau then filed administrative litigation against the ministry to cancel the rescission of penalties given to the plant.
Taipower on Thursday said the court ruled that the rescission be canceled, as it believes the Taichung City Government’s alleged misconduct should be addressed by the Executive Yuan, in accordance with the Local Government Act (地方制度法), instead of by the ministry.
That does not mean the court considered the bureau’s conduct legitimate, it added.
The ruling also said that the bureau’s request to invalidate the rescission of the penalties was “groundless,” which indicated that the penalties might not be lawful, Taipower said.
The Executive Yuan rescinded the penalties in November 2021, in accordance with the Local Government Act, and the rescission would not be affected by the ruling, it said.
The No. 2 and No. 3 generators at the plant would continue to operate to ensure a stable power supply, Taipower added.
The ministry on Thursday said that it respects the ruling, but would seek an appeal.
The city government arbitrarily revised the text and required Taipower to achieve the coal reduction goal within two months, which went against the principle of legitimate expectations and would undermine the permit licensing procedure, the ministry said.
The ministry was obligated to interfere as a supervisor of the bureau’s air pollution control operations, it said.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) yesterday said that it would be unreasonable for the ministry to appeal the case, as the bureau imposed the penalties to safeguard Taichung residents’ health.
“It is OK that the ministry made a mistake, and it should have admitted it,” she said.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsu-lei
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