Chang vows probe into oil spill case

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) vowed yesterday to investigate allegations of administrative negligence surrounding a recent oil spill in southern Taiwan.

Accompanied by Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) head Lin Jun-yi (林俊義), Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (伍世文) and Pingtung County Commissioner Su Chia-chuan (蘇嘉全), Chang inspected the oil-covered coastal reefs from a helicopter above the Lungkeng Ecological Reservation Area (龍坑生態保護區) near Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), at the southern tip of the country.

Chang asked Lin to remain in Pingtung County to host today's expected visit of the Cabinet's task force formed to look into the spill.

Chang said that the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (研考會) had already begun an investigation into alleged administrative negligence in dealing with the oil spill.

"We'll just have to wait and see which agencies were to blame," Chang said.

According to the Marine Pollution Prevention Law, which went into effect last November, the EPA has the duty to establish a task force to handle oil spills immediately after such an incident happens. As certain regulations in the new law were judged insufficient, however, the Cabinet decided in early January that under the Mercantile Harbor Law (商港法), the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would be responsible for mounting salvage operations, including rescue work and cleaning up oil spilled by any ship, as was the case before.

Responding to concerns that the Third Nuclear Power Plant, located 10km from Lungkeng, would be affected by the spill, Chang said that the oil was actually concentrated mainly in an area some 800m from Lungkeng, to the east of the power station and had not spread.

Taiwan Power Co (台電) officials at the plant, however, started to deploy booms yesterday to protect water intakes against the slick.

"We are doing this as a precautionary measure. So far, we have seen nothing out of the ordinary as far as the spill in Lungkeng in concerned," said Li Wen-cheng (李文正), director of the plant's public relations office.

Chang promised that the half-sunk ship would be removed by the Ministry of National Defense within a month to prevent the leakage of 200 tonnes of oil and 60,000 tonnes of iron ore that still remain on the ship.

About 200 cleanup workers remained at the site yesterday. Due to the desperate lack of manpower, the defense ministry announced that 600 soldiers from the 8th Army (八軍團) will be sent to the area to help speed up the task.