Central Taiwan might be designated a top-grade air pollution control zone, while a Taichung City bylaw aiming to limit coal burning to curb air pollution might be approved by the central government next week, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee yesterday, EPA Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said that by the end of this year, Taichung, Changhua and Nantou might be designated as class-three air pollution control zones, where pollution is most severe according to the agency’s three-class categorization system.
The area was identified for potential designation as a class-three zone due to high concentrations of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter — Wei said, in response to New Power Party Legislator Hung Tzu-yung’s (洪慈庸) questions about an emissions cap in the area to curb pollution.
Photo: CNA
An area where air quality levels fall below the standard for three consecutive years can be recognized as a class-three air pollution zone, in which stricter standards apply to reduce emissions in the area.
According to an analysis of PM2.5 data collected in the past three years and announced by the EPA earlier this year, the whole nation, excluding Hualien and Taitung, qualify for class-three zone recognition.
Hung also asked whether the EPA would reject a Taichung bylaw to ban petroleum coke and reduce the use of coal in the city by 40 percent in four years, as the agency last year rejected a similar Yunlin bylaw that aimed to ban coal burning.
The EPA said the ban was beyond the county’s jurisdiction.
“The Taichung bylaw and Yunlin bylaw are different in content. The Taichung bylaw is less in conflict with central government laws and is likely to be approved. The EPA will submit an analysis of the Taichung bylaw to the Executive Yuan for review next week,” Wei said.
In related news, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) said participants of religious activities are at higher risk of PM2.5 exposure, as PM2.5 levels inside a temple that burns incense and ghost money could be three times higher than the highest level of the EPA’s 10-level PM2.5 index.
As a series of festivals celebrating Matsu are scheduled to begin soon, Liu called on the EPA to dispatch air quality monitoring vehicles to join religious processions and announce real-time pollution data and associated health risks of different religious activities, such as letting off firecrackers and burning incense.
“According to an EPA study, incense emits 75 to 700 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter, which is 10 times higher than the highest level of the EPA’s PM2.5 index. I will personally join the processions and monitor air quality with a handheld device,” Wei said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS