Government “Efficiency”: 20 Days in Office and Ma Gets Taiwan’s CO2 Emissions Up By 7%

2008 / 06 / 08

For Immediate Release，8 June 2008

As President Ma Ying-jiu promotes carbon cutbacks and the Executive Yuan rolls out its own “Action Plan to Conserve Energy and Cut Carbon,” Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has its own plans to promote the agenda. 

In the upcoming Meeting #167 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Commission a series of carbon intensive development projects are scheduled for approval. These include the state-owned China Steel subsidiary Dragon Steel’s expansion project in Changhua County, and Taiwan Power Company’s (Taipower) expansion of its Talin thermal power plant in Kaohsiung. These and other projects make Ma’s calls for all Taiwan citizens to work to cut our personal carbon impact look childish and ridiculous.

According to the materials provided by the developers, Dragon Steel’s plant expansion will increase its annual CO2 emissions by 11.79 million tonnes, while the Taipower project will increase the Talin plant’s CO2 output by 10.79 million tonnes. The contribution of these two projects, a total of 22.51 million tonnes represents 7% of the entire nation’s CO2 output for all of 2006. 

Seven percent after only twenty days in office. We might then ask the President how this fits in with his recent commitment to have our emissions to 2008 levels by the year 2020 or the 2025 levels down to the level of 2000? This doesn’t even start to get to the question of who came up with these “targets” in the first place and why Taiwan doesn’t mention the Kyoto benchmark of 1990.

The Talin Plant in Kaohsiung will involve dismantling of five units that currently burn up about 1.6 million tonnes of coal (2007) and building four new units that will burn as much as 8.4 million tonnes of coal a year. This is about five times the amount from 2004. The move is a major setback to the efforts to improve air quality in Kaohsiung and poses increased threats to the quality of life and safety of Kaohsiung residents. 

Not acceptable.

While countries around the world are working assiduously to cut their over-all energy use and increase the percentage of clean energy, we in Taiwan have the state-owned Taipower expanding its coal-fired power plant capacity as though there is no tomorrow. Ignoring the signs of global warming that the world is recognizing too clearly, Taipower is forcing us deeper into our reliance on traditional and irresponsible energy, and acting as though doubling or tripling greenhouse gas emissions is a sacred right. 

This is all the more relevant for the people of Kaohsiung where with 34.7 tonnes per person each year, we hold the world’s number one spot for per capita CO2 emissions.

The China Steel affiliate’s steel plant, in addition to enormous amounts of CO2, will also produce the following by-products as their contribution to an already seriously contaminated air of central Taiwan:

Particulate matter: 27.58 million tonnes

Sulphur oxides (SOx): 48.47 million tonnes

Mono-nitrogen oxides: 59.30 million tonnes

Mr. Ma is adept at calling on the people of Taiwan to adjust their neckties, driving habits and other our personal habits so as to cut our carbon impact. Perhaps he should spend a little time focusing on the emission-giants the likes of Taipower and China Steel. Perhaps he would then conclude that it is time to begin looking into issues such as state subsidies and other systems, as well as laws and regulations that encourage industrial waste and that keep our attention away from starting the transition to a low carbon economy. 
It is time for Ma and his government to get serious and stop the superficial play-acting such as their recent antics on World Environment Day. Otherwise projects such as these two now being promoted by our EPA will expose the true intentions of the Ma regime when it comes to protecting the environment and acting responsibly on global warming. 

Sponsoring groups: Mercy on the Earth Taiwan, Green Party Taiwan, Taipei Office of the Taiwan Academy of Ecology, Taiwan Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association。。。
(other groups are being signed up)