Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has set Friday as the deadline for Formosa Petrochemical Corp to submit a report detailing reasons behind a recent fire at its oil refinery in Mailiao (麥寮), Yunlin County, and plans for improvement.
“Formosa Petrochemical’s No. 6 naphtha cracker plant in Mailiao will not be allowed to re-open unless the cause of the fire is discovered and operational safety is fully guaranteed, “Wu said on Saturday while on an inspection tour of the Taichung area.
Wu said the Council of Labor Affairs will invite academics to take part in the review, following a suggestion by Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬).
“The most important thing for now is to mitigate the damage of the fire, regardless of political affiliations in central and local governments,” Wu said, adding: “Everyone knows clearly which party was in power in the central government from 2000 to 2008.
The fire at the company’s No. 6 naphtha cracker plant on July 25 — the second fire in a month — provoked anger from local residents, but Wu praised the handling of the incident by both the county government and Formosa Petrochemical.
Operations have been suspended since the fire broke out. It is estimated Formosa Petrochemical could suffer losses of about NT$20 billion (US$625,247 million) per month while the plant is shut, undermining the profits of its affiliates.
Formosa Petrochemical chairman Wang Wen-yuan (王文淵) made a public apology on Friday, offering assurances that his company will take care of the problem and provide compensation where necessary.
Commenting on a Taipei High Administrative Court ruling on Friday that an expansion project at the Central Taiwan Science Park in Changhua County’s Erlin Township (二林) be shelved temporarily due to environmental concerns, Wu said he will ask government agencies to review the issue.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) approved the project last November after it passed an environment impact assessment. However, Erlin residents filed an appeal with the Taipei High Administrative Court asking that the project be halted or scrapped because of EPA negligence in the assessment.
The panel of judges said Friday’s ruling was not a final verdict, but a contingency measure to safeguard the interests of local farmers who are losing land because of the science park expansion.
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