A leak at a CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) gasoline station on Green Island (綠島) has polluted the nearby groundwater supply, where the benzene concentration soared to 294 times the allowable limit, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
The station on Aug. 10 notified CPC management that a pump had leaked 3,700 liters of gasoline, almost a month after it confirmed the incident on July 14, CPC said in a statement on Sunday.
EPA officials last month drilled three wells around the pump to collect groundwater samples for testing, said EPA Soil and Groundwater Remediation Fund Management Board executive secretary Chen Shyh-wei (陳世偉), who published the test results yesterday.
Photo: Chen Hsien-yi, Taipei Times
The samples collected from the well 4m to 5m from the pump turned up a benzene concentration of 14.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L), or 294 times the maximum allowable level of 0.05 mg/L, EPA data showed.
The concentration of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) reached 46.5mg/L, higher than the maximum permissible level of 1mg/L, while that of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) reached 124mg/L, exceeding the maximum allowable level of 10mg/L, the data showed.
Toluene and naphthalene residues reached 27.5mg/L and 0.764mg/L respectively, both exceeding their legal limits of 10mg/L and 0.4mg/L, the EPA said.
The samples taken from the well about 1m to 2m from the pump also turned up concentrations of benzene, naphthalene, MTBE and TPH in excess of maximum allowable limits, while those taken from the well about 12m from the pump were within safe levels, the data showed.
The Taitung Environmental Protection Bureau on Sunday fined CPC NT$15,000 for failing to report the leak promptly, saying it should have reported it within three hours of its discovery as stipulated in Article 28 of the Water Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法).
The company would also be fined between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000 for contravening Article 41 of the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act (土壤及地下水污染整治法), Chen said, adding that the bureau would decide on the amount.
The station would be identified as a pollution control site and CPC would be required to propose a remediation plan within six months, detailing how it would redress the water pollution and prevent similar leaks, Chen added.
The incident dealt a fresh blow to state-run CPC’s reputation, after media reports on July 16 that 63,000 liters of oil had leaked from its depot in Penghu County a year earlier.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft