Ahead of tomorrow’s committee review of proposed amendments to the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣汙染防制法), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of “putting on a show” and not being serious about combating air pollution.
The KMT is opposed to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ heavy-handed approach toward removing the limits on the amount of natural gas that can be used by power plants, the caucus told a news conference.
Emissions by state-run enterprises should be gradually reduced on a yearly basis and an “air pollution prevention fund” should be set up, the KMT added.
Citing Article 14 of the DPP’s proposed amendments, KMT caucus secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said the government’s regulations on natural gas were too lax.
According to the draft article, power plants need not obtain permits or be subjected to an environmental impact assessment, which is counterproductive to fighting air pollution, Lee said.
The provision is difficult to swallow for environmentalists and ordinary people, as it is aimed at boosting the nation’s electricity generation capacity under the guise of combating air pollution, she said.
Lee also criticized the DPP for proposing a rule stating that the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) should consult the Ministry of Economic Affairs when formulating measures to tackle air pollution on days when the air quality hits dangerous levels.
The draft rule would make the EPA subordinate to the ministry and therefore undermine the act, Lee said.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) earlier this month said it ordered all coal-fired power plants nationwide to decrease their power output by 20 percent in response to severe air pollution, but the number was falsified, as it took into account power generators that were undergoing maintenance, KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said.
Excluding the power generators that were shut down when Taipower claimed to be lowering the power plants’ capacity, the actual amount of capacity reduction would total a mere 3 percent, Wang said.
The KMT caucus would propose a rule in its draft amendment that stipulates by how much power plants’ output should be reduced as an emergency measure to respond to dangerous levels of air pollution, she said.
The DPP said it would strive to reduce PM2.5 — airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter — but it has proposed expanding the Shenao coal-fired power plant in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said.
“The DPP either has thick skin or thinks people are fools,” he said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS