EPA begins smelting factory demolition

The demolition of 68 illegal smelting factories beside the heavily polluted Erjen River (二仁溪) in Tainan County finally began yesterday, as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) sought to keep the promise he made when he took office.

After suffering over 20 years of pollution from smelting -- melting and separating the different ores in scrap metal -- the Erjen River is finally seeing the end of the practice.

By 1987, there were over 100 illegal smelting factories located along the Erjen River. Pollution from the factories has greatly damaged the air quality in the area and adversely affected local wildlife.

Hau traveled to Tainan County yesterday in order to oversee the beginning of the demolition of the factories.

The Erjen River has been a constant headache for Hau, who vowed to clean it up at the beginning of his tenure as EPA head last year.

Between then and May of this year, Hau has received 147 letters from residents asking for the smelting factories to be closed.

In May, with the EPA planning to build a final depository for industrial waste in Tainan County's Kueijen township (歸仁鄉), Hau also faced opposition from residents. They argued that the construction would badly damage local economic development.

For the demolition of the smelting factories yesterday, Hau received wide support from Tainan residents. Not total support, however.

In opposition were the 450 factory workers who were put out of work by the factories' closure.

The workers shouted at Hau, accusing him of not giving them enough time before closing the factories. In one incident some even tried to punch him, but hit Tainan County EPA head Lee Mu-Sheng (李穆生) instead.

In addition Wang Hsing-nan (王幸男), a DPP legislator from Tainan County, spoke for himself and three other Tainan legislators in expressing disapproval of Hau's actions.

Accusing Hau of acting "too impulsively" and "without compassion," Wang denounced him for allegedly going back on a promise to give factory workers six months' notice prior to demolishing the factories.

Hau remained firm in his decision saying that he made it clear in April that the factories would be removed by the end of June and that 2 months is ample notice.

The first efforts to remove the factories began in 1997. Since then there have been 2 additional attempts to remove them but all failed.

An estimated total of NT$150 million has been spent on the efforts thus far.