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.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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