Green council backs new emissions caps challenged by power companies
Green advisers question claims the proposed standards are too hard to meet
Green advisers for the government have supported a proposed further tightening of what the city's power firms describe as "extremely challenging" emissions caps slated for 2019.
The caps, recommended by the Environmental Protection Department, will require the city's four power stations to reduce emissions of three types of air pollutants by between 5 and 80 per cent. It will be the fourth time the caps have been tightened since the first restrictions were enforced in 2010. Since then, emissions from power plants have decreased between 40 and 63 per cent.
The proposal received backing yesterday from the Advisory Council on the Environment, although members raised doubts about whether the caps were truly as tough as the power firms made them out to be.
"Are they really challenging at all or can they be met easily, without putting in much effort?" council member Professor Nora Tam Fung-yee asked.
Others asked why greenhouse gases were not among the regulated air pollutants. Power plants are the second-largest source of nitrogen dioxides and sulphur dioxides, and third-largest source of respirable suspended particles - the three pollutants covered by the caps.
Exceeding the emissions caps is a criminal offence that warrants a fine of HK$30,000 per tonne. Repeat offenders face a HK$60,000 fine per tonne and up to six months in jail.
Under the proposal, HK Electric, which serves Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island, will have to further cut emissions by between 5 and 20 per cent.
CLP Power, which supplies Kowloon, the New Territories, Lantau and outlying islands, is spared the more restrictive caps except for sulphur dioxide emitted from its gas-fired Black Point Power Station in Tuen Mun, which must be cut by 80 per cent from 2017 to 2019.
The new caps are to be introduced to the legislature for approval by late this month, and both power firms have called them "extremely challenging".
