A newly completed processing plant owned by Taiwan's second largest chip manufacturer, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC 聯電), could be forced to stop operations because required environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures were apparently not followed before the company began construction two years ago.
UMC officials stressed yesterday, however, that the company would suffer no financial losses as a result, as they were still working with the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to keep testing and operations at the plant on schedule.
Construction of the wafer fabrication plant, called Fab 8F (also known as UMC 5, 聯電五廠), was launched in 1998 after receiving a construction permit from the Science-based Industrial Park Administration (SIPA) under the National Science Council.
However, a recent discovery that required EIA procedures were not followed could invalidate the construction permit.
The case has also raised serious questions as to the government's ability to supervise environmental protection procedures in industrial parks.
This could become Taiwan's first case of a construction permit being canceled due to violations of the EIA law that was implemented in 1995.
EPA officials will hold a meeting Thursday with officials from the NSC, SIPA, and UMC to clarify who is responsible for the present state of affairs and to figure out possible solutions.
The officials said they would monitor other companies in the science-based park to see if similar cases are to be found.
It was reported by local media that SIPA officials had admitted that they failed to notify the company of the project's possible impact on the nearby Touchien River (頭前溪) water resource protection area, in existence for over 20 years.
Previous cases regarding toxic waste water from semiconductor manufacturers absorbed into the water table have already been exposed in other countries, such as Japan and the US.
According to EIA regulations, the EPA cannot not grant a permit for development and construction to commence before the review has been completed and a final EIA report has been submitted.
In this case, although UMC received a permit which was granted in violation of the rules, the EPA can request in writing that SIPA cancel the permit.
Currently, UMC is facing fines ranging from NT$300,000 to NT$1.5 million, and an order from EPA to halt operations.
UMC officials told the Taipei Times yesterday that the EPA issued the permit in 1998 without requesting the company to process an EIA.
"All I can say is that at the time we followed their instructions in applying for the permit. Everything is legal," said an official from the company's public relations office who would only identify himself as Mr. Tseng.
"It's not convenient for us to comment on who should be responsible for the situation. However, we feel that it's unfair for us to be threatened by the EPA," Tseng said, adding that the company would cooperate with the EPA by providing required documents to process the needed EIA.
Tseng believed that UMC would pass the EIA and that operations would not be disrupted at the plant.
"Actually, EPA officials have already helped us to prepare the required documents to pass the EIA. Scientific data regarding several items, such as the quality of waste water discharged from the plant, shows that no environmental problems would be posed," Tseng said.
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