TAIWAN EPA: FOCUS ON EIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001440 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS OES/EGC FOR TRIGG TALLEY STATE PASS EPA/OIA K. MCASKILL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ECON PREL CH TW SUBJECT: TAIWAN EPA: FOCUS ON EIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE TAIPEI 00001440 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. USEPA Associate Program Manager for China/East Asia Kelly McAskill visited Taiwan on June 11-15 to discuss ongoing programs with Taiwan and to plan for the next Conference on Issues of Common Concern, which is planned for August 13-16 in Hawaii and will address transboundary pollution issues. The USEPA and Taiwan EPA (TEPA) altogether have 16 cooperative projects covering aspects of air quality monitoring, hazardous wastes, indoor air quality, marine and port pollution and water quality. McAskill told TEPA that the USEPA would focus future cooperation on transboundary pollution issues as they are of mutual concern. Newly-appointed TEPA minister Winston Dang said his priority was revising the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process to make it more responsive and transparent. He expressed a wish to visit Washington DC after the proposed EPA conference in mid-August. AIT also scheduled a meeting with local NGO's to hear their complaints about the EIA process, which in their view is becoming more exclusive. END SUMMARY. MEETING WITH TEPA MINISTER DANG -------------- ¶2. (SBU) AIT ESTHOFF and USEPA Associate program manager Kelly McAskill met with newly-appointed TEPA minister Winston Dang on June 11 to discuss his priorities for TEPA and bilateral cooperation. Dang said he spent 15 years through 2005 working at USEPA on risk assessment issues and that the EIA process is one of his priorities. He noted that the EIA members were not experts in environmental issues and hoped to attract more experts to conduct assessments. He also said the EIA process needed to be more transparent. In addition, Dang observed that he recently traveled to Penghu and observed that the island's garbage disposal sites are limited. As a result, he wants to help them find a more permanent solution, since transport to Taiwan proper is subject to weather conditions. Dang also expressed interest in regional office development to expand TEPA's scope. McAskill told Dang that USEPA's international work in Asia emphasizes environmental impacts to the global environment and the United States, such as transboundary air pollution. McAskill also explained that the EPA's office of International Affairs is conducting a priority setting exercise due to budget cuts and the management of the Taiwan program-like all other programs - is under discussion. ¶3. (SBU) Local pollution concerns will be less of a USEPA focus and emphasis will shift to international issues (NOTE: Currently, EPA has a number of air quality monitoring projects with TEPA covering transboundary movement of pollutants such as mercury, aerosols and carbon emissions. END NOTE) TEPA officials said Taiwan ranks 21st in the world for overall CO2 emissions and has undertaken to reduce CO2 emissions, although it is not part of the Kyoto Protocol. Taiwan is also interested in carbon exchange regimes that will allow it to trade CO2 emissions with other countries, but because it is not part of the UN system it has yet to find the mechanism to reach this goal. TAIWAN NGO'S: EIA PROCESS FLAWED -------------- ¶4. (SBU) On June 13, AIT arranged a meeting with local NGO's to get their views on Taiwan environmental issues. Participants included: Robin Winkler, a lawyer with many years experience in environmental issues and a member of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of TEPA; Gloria Hsu, Chair of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Union, as well as a member of TEPA's EIA team; and Chao Chia-wei, member of the Taiwan Environmental Action Network (TEAN). The NGO's all agreed that Taiwan's EIA process needs revising to make it more inclusive, transparent and not subject to the whims of political interests. Currently, there are three major public infrastructure projects in the pipeline, a steel plant and naphtha cracker plant for Yunlin County in Southern Taiwan, and the superhighway project linking Hualien with Suao on the east coast. Each, however, is stalled due to environmental controversy. Winkler mentioned that in one EIA case concerning the steel plant in Yunlin County - which could produce 20 million tons of annual emissions, place a heavy burden on water use and endanger the local ecosystem - TEPA officials suggested that five EIA members opposed the project TAIPEI 00001440 002.2 OF 002 to "recuse" themselves so that the project could be approved. There are also indications that TEPA may not renew the EIA memberships of those EIA members unwilling to limit their opposition to the major projects currently proposed. Hsu said that some members of the Executive Yuan believe they can dispense with the EIA process altogether and just hire legal experts. The NGO's also noted that coal-fired plants in the PRC were the main source of the acid rain over Taiwan. This problem will worsen if Taiwan builds more coal-fired power plants in the future. MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS WORKSHOP AND OTHER PROJECTS -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) USEPA and TEPA have an ongoing project to hold a vehicle emissions workshop in Southeast Asia to help countries in the area control their vehicle emissions. TEPA noted that Vietnam has many mopeds, and Taiwan also has a large moped assembly factory in Vietnam, while Thailand has a large fleet of diesel vehicles and Indonesia recently phased out lead in its gasolines. Taiwan's expertise could be valuable in helping those countries establish emissions standards, vehicle inspection procedures, and fuel standards. USEPA-TEPA ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Environment Conference on Issues of Common Concern this year is scheduled for August 13-16, most likely in Hawaii. The focus of discussion will be transboundary pollution and climate change. TEPA informed AIT that Minister Winston Dang wants to attend the opening session and meet with local environmental officials and perhaps visit an air monitoring station in Mauna Loa before continuing to Washington, where he hopes to meet EPA Administrator Steve Johnson, who was once his boss, as well as former EPA Administrator and current HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt. USEPA is laying the groundwork for the conference and identifying experts to participate in the discussions. AIT will be coordinating closely with USEPA and TEPA on this conference. YOUNG