![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090508135403im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
U.S.-Taiwan Bilateral Agreement in the Field of Environmental Protection
- History of the Agreement
- Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei
- U.S. Environmental Protection Administration
- Description of Activities
- Recent Major Accomplishments
- Future Directions
The agreement between the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) for technical cooperation in the field of environmental protection was signed in 1993 by Administrator Carol Browner and the Director of AIT. AIT is an office established by the State Department under the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, 22 U.S.C. section 3301-3316.
The AIT manages this agreement, among several agreements in other fields,
with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in
Washington, DC. The Environmental
Protection Administration 
in Taipei works closely with TECRO on the implementation of this agreement. The
original five-year agreement was extended in 1998 for another five years
till June of 2003.
Under the agreement, USEPA and AIT develop a new workplan every two years. The workplan describes the responsibility of each party and the projects to be implemented in a two-year segment. The parties hold annual planning and review meeting to assess the accomplishments and to lay the groundwork for future projects.
Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei
The Taiwan program is one of the most productive programs in the Office of International Affairs (OIA). It averages about 10 to 15 projects every year. The projects are mostly implemented in the form of workshops, conferences, and exchanges of personnel and site visits. In the past six years of the agreement, various EPAT offices, such as Bureau of Air Quality Protection & Noise Control, Bureau of Water Quality Protection, Bureau of Waste Management, Bureau of Environmental Sanitation & Toxic Substances Control, Legal Affairs Committee, and Bureau of Environmental Monitoring and Data Processing, have contributed tremendous resources and time to execute these cooperative projects. The Office of Science and Technology Advisors is the focal point in EPAT for the US-Taiwan agreement.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
On the U.S. side, Office of International Affairs has drawn upon expertise from within USEPA, other U.S. governmental agencies and state and county-level agencies. USEPA region 2, 3, 9, and 10 offices and USEPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, and Office of Water have participated and contributed greatly to the program.
The projects implemented under this agreement can be grouped into the following categories:
- Non-Point and Source Pollution Control in Air and Water
- Risk Assessment and Emergency Response
- Hazardous Waste Management
- Climate Change
- Chemical Sampling and Analysis
- Pollution Prevention and Cleaner Production
- Environmental Information Management and Exchange
- Energy Efficiency
- Technology Transfer Demonstration
- Energy Efficiency - Green Lights, Climate Wise and Energy Star
- Technology Transfer Demonstration -- Abatement of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Emission from Co-generation Plants
Since 1996 USEPA Region 2 has been providing technical assistance in energy planning, green house gas strategy and introduction to USEPA voluntary programs such as Green Lights,Climate Wise and Energy Star Buildings.
The energy planning and green house gas strategies have been assisted by EPAT's gaining familiarity with the international energy system model MARKAL-MACRO. Technical training of EPAT staff has been accomplished since 1997 by the Brookhaven National Laboratory acting in coordination with Region 2 project manager of the Strategic Planning & Multi-media Programs Branch. EPAT are embarking on using the technologies in the MARKAL model to assess whether the Energy Star Buildings Program for commercial buildings and the Climate Wise Program for the industrial sector are viable mechanisms for reducing green house gases in Taiwan.
Since 1997 Region 2 has conducted several training workshops on USEPA
programs such as Green Lights and Energy Star Buildings. Region 2 has
coordinated these efforts with Industrial
Technology and Research Institute in Taiwan (ITRI) and the Architecture and Buildings Research Institute of the Ministry
of the Interior. EPAT has recently submitted a request to EPA-OAR for
the transfer of the Energy Star Office Products program to EPAT. Meetings
were recently held with EPAT Director General of Bureau of Air to discuss
the conditions of the transfer.
The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate nitrogen oxide (NOx) reburning technology on a coal-fired co-generation plant in Taiwan. Atmospheric nitrogen oxide compounds, including N2O, NO and NO2, have been implicated in a variety of environmental effects, both from their direct emission to the atmosphere and their role as precursors to the formation of ozone and acid rain.
NOx emission in Taiwan is current measured at about 700,000 tons. It is estimated that the NOx emission on the island will exceed 800,000 tons in year 2001. High temperature fossil fuel combustion is a principal source of atmospheric NOx emissions. Since utility boilers make up about 40% of Taiwan's NOx emissions, reduction of NOx emission from utility and industrial boilers would significantly relieve island's NOx production.
With this demonstration project, a coal-fired co-generation plant will be retrofitted with NOx reburning technology, and this demonstration plant is expected to have at least 60% reduction of NOx baseline emissions. Energy and Resources Lab (ERL) of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan will undertake this reburn demonstration project by working closely with Taiwan EPA and under the technical advice of USEPA. In addition, ERL will also work with a US consulting firm in designing and implementing the project. ERL will recruit volunteering local co-generation plants to participate in this project.
This project was initiated in early 1999. In November of that year, EPA personnel visited candidate co-generation plants and met with the industrial sector to discuss the benefit and applicability of the reburn technology. The US delegation also met with ITRI Vice President and project managers, and EPAT project managers to draft the schedule for this project. Currently, the basic engineering designs are being done on three candidate plants. The project will proceed with detailed engineering design, and actual implementation and installation. The data collected from this project benefit not only Taiwan, but the US can also use the information to better understand the applicability of reburn technology for medium to small-sized co-generation plants.
Global climate change, pollution prevention and cleaner production, risk reduction from pollutants in the groundwater and air, hazardous waste management and tracking of toxic substances, and public outreach are crucial elements for the US-Taiwan bilateral agreement in the upcoming years. Office of International Activities, through its various partners, aims to develop a strategic approach for delivering technical assistance in Taiwan. With the cooperation of EPAT, the future projects aim to produce sound environmental results in Taiwan.
