EPA a target for Cabinet punishment

In the wake of harsh criticism from President Chen Shiu-bian (陳水扁) on Sunday over several cases of government mismanagement, the Cabinet yesterday began considering how to punish poorly performing officials, turning its attention first to the recent oil spill off Pingtung County.

After spending two weeks investigating alleged administrative negligence regarding the recent oil spill in southern Taiwan, the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (研考會) presented a report to Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday to use as a reference when considering what punishments to mete out.

The commission also presented him with a related list of names of administrative officials.

But Chang will not make a final decision on any punishments until Thursday, according to the Cabinet's Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday.

"As for politically appointed officials (政務官), we described facts they were involved in only. It is up to Premier Chang to decide to punish them or not," said Lin Chia-cheng (林嘉誠), chairman of the commission.

According to reports, politically appointed officials at the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, including EPA head Lin Jun-yi (林俊義), will be punished for their insufficient action on the case.

The measures taken by the commission yesterday were regarded as a positive response to attacks from the opposition parties, which have been critical of the government since the oil spill become a political issue in early February.

The spill, which occurred on Jan. 14 near the Lungkeng Ecological Conservation Preservation Area (龍坑生態保護區) of Kenting National Park, took place after a Greek cargo ship, the MV Amorgos, hit submerged reefs near Lungkeng. Four days after it ran aground, the ship began to leak oil.

The EPA, however, did not establish a Cabinet task force to address the spill until early February. At the time, environmental officials estimated that at least 1,150 tonnes of oil had been spilled.

On Feb. 10, the premier asked the commission to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the spill.

Meanwhile, the Control Yuan also began its own investigation and is considering censuring Cabinet officials.

The Control Yuan is continuing its probe, and today and tomorrow Control Yuan members will carry out a second field investigation to see if censure is necessary.

Some reports have said that Chen's criticism on Sunday indicated that a Cabinet reshuffle might be in the works.

Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平), director of the GIO, however, denied this.

Environmental professors, however, said the environmental agency should not become the main target of punishment because the poor communication between Cabinet agencies was due to the transition of power.

According to officials from the environmental administration, requests were made to other agencies for help from the beginning, but these were ignored.