In order to embody the county magistrate's principal performance pillars of promoting garden cities and taking big breaths, the county's Environmental Protection Bureau focuses on the control of pollution sources. For factories that have not done pollution prevention in accordance with the provisions of the Air Pollution Control Act, the Bureau will conduct frequent inspections, impose heavy penalties, and provide strong guidance, to show the determination to promote environmentally friendliness to companies. In addition, in order to implement the “Polluter-Pays Principle," the Environmental Protection Administration has collected air pollution fees on particulate pollutants, lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, hexavalent chromium, and dioxin since July 1, 2018. It is hoped that through the operators’ self-addition of prevention equipment or measures, the pollutant emissions can be effectively reduced, and the cost of air pollution fees can also be reduced, achieving the goal of returning to cleanness via the means of economic incentives.
 
It has been two years since the collection of air pollution fees for particulate pollutants, etc. The public and private premises under control in this county have completed the registration and payment as scheduled. However, during inspection in this period, the Environmental Protection Bureau found that the content of operators’ air pollution fee registration was different from the actual situation on the site. There is a likelihood of having a false registration, which is a violation of Article 54 of the Air Pollution Control Act, with a penalty of no more than three-year imprisonment, detention, and/or be fined NT$200,000 to NT$5 million. Therefore, today (July 9), the Environmental Protection Bureau held the 2020 "Hualian County Fixed Pollution Source Regulations Seminar" at the Zhishan Building of the Huashan City’s Zhu-Qiang Elementary School, inviting a total of 69 people from public and private premises under control in the county to participate. In addition, Dr. Xu Wen-Chang of Dahan Institute of Technology was invited as the keynote speaker, explaining the key points of fixed pollution sources regulations, and providing examples of common registration and on-site mistakes and the laws and regulations related to the air pollution fees for fixed-source particulate emissions in the soil and stone industry. Thus, operators can adopt the best preventive measures to implement the operation with the most practical and convenient execution items, avoiding punishment and deficiencies.
 
The Environmental Protection Bureau states that the purpose of the air pollution fee collection is to encourage the industry to actively invest in pollution prevention and effectively reduce air pollutant emissions. It is expected that all enterprises can take action to fulfill social responsibility and be friendly and caring for the environment. On one hand, it can reduce the amount of air pollution fees paid, and on the other hand it can enhance the corporate environmental image, achieving a win-win situation. The Hualien County Environmental Protection Bureau will continue to cooperate with the Environmental Protection Administration’s policies and implement the inspection of air pollution prevention equipment in the future. It is also hoped that the operators should truthfully register correctly according to the current situation.