《TAIPEI TIMES》 Protesters dispute Taichung air quality claims

By Lin Chia-nan and Su Meng-chuan / Staff reporters

Taichung’s air quality did not improve as much as the government has claimed, as it only ranked eighth among all municipalities with regard to its reduction of airborne particles last year, Air Clean Taiwan chairman Yeh Guang-perng （葉光芃） said at a march in Taichung yesterday, where protesters demanded clean air.

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The group said that about 4,000 people attended the event, which was the last of three large-scale demonstrations against air pollution this month.

Participants marched in the afternoon from Taichung Civic Square to the plaza in front of the Taichung City Hall.

Demanding an environment with no coal, the group urged the government to decommission Taichung Power Plant’s 10 coal-fired units and not to interfere with environmental impact assessment procedures as it said Premier William Lai （賴清德） had done last month by pushing through CPC Corp, Taiwan’s plan to build a third liquefied natural gas terminal in Taoyuan.

While the Environmental Protection Administration on Saturday said the city’s air quality has improved by 18 percent since 2015, Yeh said the city’s reduction of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — was surpassed by Tainan and Chiayi City, as well as Kinmen, Nantou, Yunlin, Changhua and Chiayi counties.

Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung （林佳龍）, of the Democratic Progressive Party （DPP）, on Saturday said that he would not attend the protest.

The city government has strived to curb pollution by cutting 5 million tonnes of coal use and has pushed local manufacturers to upgrade their pollution control facilities, said Lin, who is seeking re-election.

Instead of attending the march, Lin yesterday hosted an inauguration ceremony for a landfill that has been turned into a solar power plant, Taichung City Government spokesman Cho Kuan-ting （卓冠廷） said, adding that the city government would continue cut coal use and promote “green” energy to mitigate air pollution.

Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taichung mayoral candidate Lu Shiow-yen （盧秀燕） and Nantou County Commissioner Lin Ming-chen （林明溱）, who is seeking re-election, took part in the demonstration.

Taichung’s air pollution is cause by the DPP’s ill-advised energy policies that allow the coal-fired power plant to continue running, Lu said, adding that it is sad to see how the health of residents in central municipalities is sacrificed when part of power produced at the plant is sent to the north.

Despite its beautiful natural views, Nantou’s air quality is often worse than Taichung, with 240 county residents killed by lung cancer last year, Lin Ming-chen said, urging the DPP to improve air quality to prevent more pollution-related deaths.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES