Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday defended amendments to the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法), which passed their third reading at the Legislative Yuan on Monday, calling them a “home run.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) has criticized the bill, which increases the scope of anti-pollution measures and raises fines, calling it a political move timed ahead of the upcoming nine-in-one elections.
Asked about Chiang’s criticism during a Hit FM radio interview, Ker said discussion on the bill began when former premier Lin Chuan (林全) was in office.
Photo courtesy of Hit FM
The Executive Yuan discussed the bill with several government departments and received feedback from the affected industries and local governments, Ker said, adding that the process took more than a year.
The bill could only be sent to the legislature for review after thorough communication between party caucuses, he said.
Chiang is “too inexperienced” and does “not understand how the government operates,” Ker said.
The bill was discussed four times at legislative committee meetings, eight times in meetings with the premier and 40 times during visits to the legislature by Environmental Protection Administration Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), Ker said, adding that was a record for total discussion of a bill.
Among items included in the amendments are a timeline for transitioning to a fully electric public transit system and stipulations requiring the installation of exhaust filtration systems on all large freight vehicles and buses, he said.
The KMT’s concerns about the bill’s allowances for substitutions between stationary and mobile sources of pollution are misguided, because mechanisms remain in place to regulate the overall volume of pollution, Ker said.
Substitutions were allowed under the original law, but the rules were never implemented, he said.
The amendments also broaden the scope of how the negative effects of air pollution are measured, he added.
Ker said he spoke with Lee, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Premier William Lai (賴清德) in the final stages of the bill’s review, adding that Lin convinced the DPP to discuss the bill further before its passage.
“Such an important national policy cannot be decided by one side alone,” Ker said, urging the KMT to look at things more carefully before discrediting others.
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