When the High-Profile Air Pollution Act Meets a Million Aging Vehicles and Motorcycles

  When the High-Profile Air Pollution Act Meets a Million Aging Vehicles and Motorcycles

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

August 12, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act" went into effect earlier this month; as the new law targeted a million aging vehicles and motorcycles for heavy penalty, it aroused protest upon protest. In recent months, the owners of various types of aging vehicles successively coalesced with one another in assemblies, separately encircling the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and Kaohsiung City Hall, protesting against the government for oppressing disadvantaged groups. The executive departments, on the other hand, took no action, claiming that they would offer preferential subsidies to help replace aging vehicles, while relaxing the regulations when implementing road inspections. However, the protesting public do not acknowledge this as favors, lambasting that this is "officials forcing the populace to rebel."

Before the new law took effect, the Tsai government was ready for high-handed implementation of the new legislation, claiming that it would strengthen the ban on aging vehicles in a comprehensive manner. However, once encountering popular protests, the EPA immediately changed their officialese, saying it would only ban "squid vehicles" (thick fume emitting vehicles), and not ban aging vehicles. The EPA also said it would draw a line between towns with populations over 200,000 and those under the figure; in urban areas, it would ban two-stroke motorcycles, while in non-urban areas, it would only issue warning tickets. In the beginning, the government set such high standards in the new law and regulations; at the time of implementation, it endlessly offered deep discounts. Isn’t this self-exposing its shortcomings?  With such sloganeering policies, how is the government going to safeguard the quality of our environment and our rights and interests of breathing clean air?

The Tsai government's approach of "legislating high standards but implement low ones," besides revealing “aiming high but harvesting low,” the far bigger question is that it does not know the sufferings of the masses. To date, there are still nearly one million two-stroke motorcycles and aging vehicles on the road, reflecting the cruel fact that Taiwan’s economy is trapped in a quagmire. Precisely because Taiwan has not had a pay raise in 20 years, many people in the grassroots have no disposable income to update their means of transportation, hence there is no improvement for the issue of reducing pollution. The DPP government has never faced economic development squarely; in recent times, it has endlessly overblown untruthful figures for pay and economic development. However, Taiwan has serious air pollution, how could it be totally dismissed by a cavalier statement of the Tsai government, saying "it is a problem left behind by the previous administration.”

“Squid vehicles” of course should be banned, but when it comes to "replenishing," are there indeed no other means of improvement? The new edition of the "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act" aims high, almost to the point of "castle in the sky," completely lacking consideration of reality, and even glossing over in the matter of professionalism. The most obvious example is the provisions of the law governing construction machinery and vehicles, nearly tantamount to being ignorant. Taiwan construction businesses have been using small Bobcats, bulldozers, excavators, and other tools; the overwhelming majority of these are imported from Germany or Japan, while the producer countries have norms governing environmental protection which do not match with Taiwan standards. For this reason, even if brand new machinery were introduced, it could not conform to the stipulations in the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act. Once the government vigorously implements the new law, Taiwan’s construction industry, we are afraid, would close shop.

If the government turns a blind eye to the pollution of power plants and factories, while intercepting legal motorcycles of the masses on the road, that would be issuing an order constraining the common folks but not the government itself.

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