News
EPA upgraded to ministry
Lawmakers have passed the Organic Act for the Ministry of the Environment. The move paves the way for the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to be upgraded to the status of a full government ministry - giving it a larger budget and a bigger workforce to better tackle climate change and other issues.
According to the law, the ministry will be responsible for nine major areas, including waste disposal and treatment, resource recycling, environmental inspection and testing, and promotion of soil and groundwater pollution control, among others.
Speaking to reporters after lawmakers voted to pass the Act, Environment Minister Zhang Zi-jing said he hopes the new ministry will be inaugurated on 22 August, the same date the EPA was established in 1987.
Lawmakers have also passed five other organic acts to establish four specialized sub-organizations within the ministry that will operate independently as tier-three cabinet agencies. They include the Climate Change Agency, the Resource Recycling Agency, the Chemical Substance Management Agency, the Environmental Management Agency.
Of them the most important one would be the Climate Change Agency, and the new law stipulates that it should plan, draft, promote, implement, and monitor the policies and regulations in response to climate change.
Passage of the Organic Act for the Ministry of the Environment also means the government will now have to establish a National Environmental Research Institute. Its duties also include inventory, pricing, and trading systems for greenhouse gases.
