Although President Park Geun-hye called for “drastic” measures to improve the worsening air quality three weeks ago, the administration has not come up with any solutions yet.
The delay is attributable to the inability of the related ministries to iron out their differences.
The Environment Ministry is seeking to raise diesel prices to curb the demand for diesel vehicles. In its view, no significant improvement in air quality can be expected from measures such as installing emissions reduction equipment on old diesel vehicles or creating low emission zones to restrict the entry of these vehicles into downtown areas.
Yet the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is against hiking diesel prices for the sole purpose of improving air quality. Since the fuel is widely used in industries and households, the ministry argues that people who rely on it for their livelihoods should be consulted first.
It also doubts that higher diesel prices would significantly improve the quality of air. Of the 8.5 million diesel vehicles in Korea, buses and cargo trucks, which are heavy polluters, account for 37 percent.
For these vehicles, the government currently provides subsidies to lower fuel prices. If the government raises diesel prices, says the ministry, it will have to increase the subsidies accordingly, because otherwise, it will face a backlash from vehicle owners. Then higher diesel prices will only have a limited effect on reducing fine dust.
The Environment Ministry has also been quarreling with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy over coal-burning power plants, which are a major source of particulate matter.
It is urging the Energy Ministry to scale back its plan to build more coal-fired power stations -- even suggesting that some of the old coal-based power plants should have their operations suspended. Of the nation’s 53 coal-burning power plants, 11 were built more than 30 years ago.
Yet the Energy Ministry counters that Korea needs to build more coal-burning power stations due to the increasing difficulty in constructing nuclear power plants.
It notes that if coal-based power plants are closed, electricity rates will come under pressure, as the unit generation cost of LNG, which is the cheapest fuel after coal, is 80.30 won (0.07 cents), more than double the 34.70 won for coal.
Another contentious issue concerns the proposal to impose environmental improvement charges on diesel fuel, while reducing or abolishing those slapped on diesel vehicles.
This proposal is also intended to curb the demand for diesel vehicles by making the fuel more expensive. The Environment Ministry came up with this idea as the Finance Ministry is opposed to raising diesel prices.
The Finance Ministry has reservations about hiking diesel prices partly because it entails increasing taxes. As President Park Geun-hye is opposed to any tax increase during her tenure, the ministry prefers slapping an environmental improvement charge on diesel fuel. Technically, the charge is not a tax, but in effect, it is a kind of tax.
While these ministries have been wasting time quarreling over their proposals, a hazy cloud of fine dust has blanketed the entire nation for more than a week, posing a serious public health hazard.
As the ministries are unable to narrow their differences, the Prime Minister’s Office needs to intervene. The government should present a coherent policy package before a fierce public outcry erupts.
