Скачать или смотреть Yunlin tops list of Taiwan’s smoggiest cities and counties

Today environmentalists presented a grim picture of Taiwan''s air pollution. They said that over the course of 2018, air quality had dramatically worsened at many places in Taiwan. Their data show that Yunlin had the highest levels of lung-damaging particulate matter called PM 2.5. The activists cast doubt on the government''s optimistic claims about air pollution, saying that the EPA''s official figures were misleading. Government officials said that Taipei has become the first Taiwanese city to attain the national standard for PM2.5. The claim has come under heavy questioning by environmentalists.Yeh Guang-perngAir Clean Taiwan founderTaipei''s annual average did fall below the limit, but the daily averages exceeded the limit. So there''s something wrong here. The stations that monitor air quality in Taipei are just general-purpose stations. They do not track pollution from road traffic. So actually, the government''s yearly report underestimated the air pollution in Taipei.Environmentalists say their data from seven manual monitoring stations show that air quality has in fact deteriorated across Taiwan. The highest levels of PM2.5 were recorded in Yunlin County, they say. Kaohsiung also saw severe air pollution due to its Hsinta coal-fired plant, which produced more electricity in the spring of 2018 than in it did in all of 2017.Li Chien-chengSouth Taiwan Air Clear spokespersonKaohsiung produced much more electricity than it consumed. This means that the south was producing power for the north, but all that pollution was staying in Kaohsiung. There''s a huge difference between emissions produced by burning coal and emissions from burning natural gas. This situation has caused Kaohsiung unspeakable misery.Environmental groups want Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu to refuse to issue permits for coal-fired plants, so that blue skies can return to Kaohsiung.