President Moon Jae-in said Friday he will halt operations at aged coal power plants on a regular basis during spring while trying to move up their permanent shutdown in an effort to reduce fine dust pollution.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of a 2007 oil spill in the Yellow Sea, Moon also said that suspension of operations at eight old coal power plants during the month of June reduced the level of particulate matter by 15.4 percent in South Chuncheong Province.
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President Moon Jae-in speaks during a ceremony on the west coast town of Taean on Sept. 15, 2017, marking the 10th anniversary of a massive 2007 oil spill in the region. (Yonhap) |
"Going forward, I will suspend operations at aged coal power plants regularly during spring every year and move up their closure as much as possible," Moon said during the ceremony held at a museum commemorating the massive clean-up efforts during the oil spill.
Recalling the 2007 oil spill, Moon said that experts at the time warned that it would take at least 20 years for the environment to recover to the pre-spill levels, but concerted decontamination efforts by more than 1.2 million volunteer workers from across the nation restored the environment much earlier. (Yonhap)
