Representatives from several environmental groups protested outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday morning, urging the government to set stricter regulations to prevent further deterioration of the air quality in southern Taiwan.
Protesters said that they were enraged by a statement made by Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), who said that people cannot find high-tech jobs in southern Taiwan.
The protesters said that what Mao will not find in southern Taiwan is clean air, which they need for a healthy life.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
They asked how people in the south are able to find jobs without being in good health.
Regulations say that schools are obliged to fly a red flag when the pollution standard index reaches 100 or PM2.5 levels exceed 36 micrograms (mcg) per cubic meter. The flag means that people with certain health issues should avoid outdoor activities and be aware of changes in their health.
PM2.5 is an indicator of airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less.
Citizen of the Earth Foundation Taipei office director Antonio Chou (周東漢) said that an experiment had been conducted in an elementary school in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營) from November last year to last month that showed a red flag was raised on 64 of the 85 school days during the period.
Chou said the findings showed that people in southern Taiwan should not engage in outdoor activities 75 percent of the time.
Foundation deputy executive director Wang Min-ling (王敏玲) said that she is used to wearing a face mask all year round having lived in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung County area for many years.
Wang said that the air is dense with particulate matter from autumn to spring, adding that the air quality changes for the better in summer, but ozone issues arise when the weather is hot.
The average ozone density in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District (林園) in October last year was 58.5 parts per billion (ppb), which was higher than the government standard of 30ppb, she said.
She asked why 3.61 million residents in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County should continue putting up with contaminated air.
The PM2.5 standard set by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for safe values is between 35mcg and 53mcg per cubic meter, she said, but the WHO has a 25mcg per cubic meter standard.
Using the WHO’s standard, children could never play outside, she said.
“A study showed that the risks of not exercising are similar to those associated with high blood pressure, Wang said. How can people in the south go outside and exercise in these circumstances?”
Taiwan Healthy Air Alliance founder Yeh Guang-peng (葉光芃) said that Puli Township (埔里) in Nantou County as well as Mailiao Township (麥寮) in Yunlin County have the poorest air quality in Taiwan.
While Puli residents are set to march on Saturday [tomorrow], the central government is still sleeping, Yeh said.
Chen Hsien-heng (陳咸亨), director-general of the EPA’s Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control, said that the administration is considering raising its standards for air quality.
However, its focus is on regulating pollutants at their source, Chen said.
Chen said that the move by six cities and counties in southern Taiwan to ban the burning of coke and coal was admirable, but a similar move nationwide would require further consideration.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS