The number #1 source of urban street-level pollution in Taiwan is its enormous fleet of over 15 million scooters. Taiwan has the highest density of motor scooters per square kilometer in the world. Each of these typically emits significantly higher levels of key pollutants than a single new car does. Scooters use less fuel but their emissions of NOx, MO, hydrocarbons, and ultimately PM2.5, the primary element of pollution which the World Health Organization deems the most critical in terms of a health risk, are all higher in scooters than cars. Emissions restricting equipment such as catalytic converters and other devices tend to be too heavy, large, hot, or expensive to be accommodated on scooters, including newer models. The next major contributing factor in urban street level pollution is the industrial sector and the nation's predominantly coal-burning power stations. Here Taiwan comes out on top with the single largest coal-burning station in the world: 台中發電廠. This Taichung station is a behemoth that has firmly secured its place in history, yet unfortunately, may not be consigned to it soon. Far beneath this is the practice of agricultural burning instead of composting, and particulates from ghost money offerings and temples. The extent of China's environmental damage is unfathomably large, however China is not the primary source of air pollution in Taiwan. For that, we in Taiwan have a responsibility to shift our attention and keep it firmly focused on our own backyard. The media is often unwittingly doing a disservice and feeding a desire for scapegoating on this particular issue. Let us hope that the more complex and difficult truth can be taken on board so we may begin to deal with the issues for what they actually are: our problem and our responsibility. China has poisoned itself to a degree that it may never recover from, but Taiwan can, and must, do better. The government tends to respond as if its hands were tied by a nation of scooter-reliant citizens and by the companies that make them, often framing pollution as China's issue. There's a reason why China, when seeking to address its own air quality issues, took to immediately banning gas scooters in large cities and giving major subsidies to clean vehicles. Though Taiwan and much of the world has outsourced much of its manufacturing to China, which then suffers the environmental and health impacts, no such luxury of avoiding the need to address vehicle emissions (primarily with regard to scooters) exists in Taiwan. Clean energy and vehicles, and energy independence (Taiwan imports over 95% of its energy) have to become a priority today, for the health of society and the security (both geopolitical and economic) of the nation. Final note: common surgical masks are not effective in blocking pollution and offer at best a psychological benefit. Only a properly fitting N95 mask (or N99) can filter urban pollution effectively – essential info for citizens not contained in the EPA's or the Ministry of Health's responses nor most of the local media's reporting. Green, clean tech and energy are the way forward and we require open and honest debate on these issues of vital importance for the nation as we move ahead. Bravo to the Mayor of Taichung for taking bold and necessary steps.
Taipei Times
EDITORIAL: Pollution concerns ignored for profit
Tue, Apr 21, 2015 - Page 8
A much-needed reflection on Earth Day tomorrow should be Taiwan’s plans to address pollution, as the problems are right in front of everyone’s eyes, while effective policies for a sustainable environment are almost nonexistent.
Taiwan produces large amounts of industrial waste as economic development takes its toll, but the nation’s waste management has failed to keep up, while a lack of ethics in business damages the environment and affects people’s health.
Last year, about 3.27 million tonnes of hazardous waste was recorded, including solvents, petrochemicals, heavy metals, contaminated medical supplies and arc furnace dust, out of a total of 18.56 million tonnes of industrial waste, as recorded by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), giving Taiwan one of the highest rates of waste generation per capita in the world. Of course, a large quantity of waste remained unrecorded. Illegal dumping and storage of industrial waste being uncovered occurs so frequently that it hardly makes the headlines anymore.
At least 20 percent of the waste is not suitable for burning or recycling. The EPA has estimated that it would require a site of between 4.49 million and 8 million cubic meters, or between six and 10 times the size of the Taipei Arena, to dispose of it all every year.
Due to limited space to expand its landfill capacity, the EPA has been pushing for a new land reclamation project that would use treated industrial waste to reclaim land in the nation’s seaports. The policy has raised serious concerns. Instead of using the ocean as a dumping ground, the government should focus on adjusting industries’ policies and encourage corporations to minimize waste generation at its origin.
Like many other countries, Taiwan has separated economic and environmental factors in policy planning in its pursuit of economic growth over the decades, risking an irrevocably degraded environment to pass on to future generations. As the effects of climate change become increasingly visible, a growing number of countries have begun to integrate environmental considerations into their economic policy, aiming to simultaneously reduce pollution and improve the economy, but Taiwan has not followed suit.
Last week, led by Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), leaders from six local governments in central and southern Taiwan signed a joint declaration pledging that beginning next year, they would prohibit the burning of petroleum coke and coal, major sources of emissions of PM2.5 pollution, at factories and power plants in their administrative regions. They also demanded that the EPA draw up a policy to implement the ban nationwide.
The move quickly met with criticism from officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the state-owned Taiwan Power Co, who warned of economic repercussions if the ban is imposed, while placing the responsibility to combat air pollution on the EPA.
They said that the ban would immediately disrupt power supply, given that the coal-fired generators installed in the six cities and counties provide about 22.8 percent — or 25.8 percent during peak periods — of the total installed power-generation capacity of the nation and would lead to a loss of NT$3 trillion (US$96.5 billion) in industrial production.
It was another example of officials who manage the economy while leaving environmental concerns to one side. Opposition from the ministry has stalled the passage of a draft greenhouse gas reduction act in the legislature for years due to its disagreement with the emission-reduction goal stipulated by law.
To reverse the damage done to the environment by decades of trying to promote economic growth at all costs, more consideration should be given to environmental indicators, but the government is still reinforcing a bias toward economic concerns.
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