Residents protest excessive dioxin emission levels

Extremely excessive dioxin emission levels from a small-scale waste incinerator in Meinung township, Kaohsiung County, have alarmed local residents, leading them to demand the controversial facility's immediate closure.

Analyzing three samples collected from different positions inside the plant, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials discovered that dioxin emission levels were 57, 15.5, and 17.6 nanograms per cubic meter (ng/m3) respectively -- all over 100 times acceptable levels.

The results of the sample tests, which were announced by EPA officials on Monday evening during a public hearing held in Kaohsiung County, alarmed Meinung residents.

Environmentalists with the Meinung Environmental Protection Union (美濃環保聯盟) told the Taipei Times yesterday that they strongly hoped EPA head Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) would keep his promise to close the incinerator once any excessive dioxin emission levels were discovered.

"Hau should not go back on his word because excessive dioxin emission levels have been confirmed," an activist, who declined to be identified, told the Taipei Times.

Taiwan currently has no dioxin emission standards for waste incinerators but standards regulating such emissions are due to become effective in 2003 for the first time. The new regulations will allow maximum dioxin emission standards of Toxic Equivalent (TEQ) 0.5 ng/m3 for small-scale waste incinerators and 0.1 TEQ ng/m3 for larger incinerators.

EPA officials told the Taipei Times yesterday that no official comment from Hau on the matter was available because the EPA had not yet received the report concerning the dioxin emission tests which had been written by one of its subordinate bureaus.

The establishment of the waste incinerator in Meinung has been controversial since 1997, when officials proposed building an incinerator in a riverside zone where construction is prohibited. In early April this year, four officials involved in the project were indicted for corruption. It is believed that the accused received at least NT$194 million for helping Sunny Friend Environmental Technology Co Ltd (日友公司), the company that operates the waste incinerator.

In addition, prosecutors alleged that the company secretly burned industrial waste in the incinerator and dumped toxic fly ash and bottom ash collected from the incinerator into a nearby tributary of the Kaoping River (高屏溪) which is one of the main sources of drinking water for millions of residents in the south.

A team composed of officials from the EPA's Southern Region Branch Inspection Bureau (督察大隊南區隊) has been stationed at the site since May 10.

After discovering several defects with the incinerator, inspectors released related information to the public at a hearing held on Monday.

The EPA demanded that Sunny Friend come up with a project to reduce dioxin emission levels by July 10. In response, representatives of the company said that they would try to improve operations at the incinerator to conform with standards. They added that residents had no right to ask for an immediate closure of the facility because dioxin emission standards for incinerators had not yet been implemented.

Meanwhile, EPA officials said that the Meinung incinerator had also had difficulty with the proper management of hazardous waste, including fly ash and bottom ash collected from the incinerator. More than 1,500 tonnes of such waste have been kept in temporary storage at the plant because of the insufficient final depository space for hazardous waste in the country.