Heavy crude oil was found to have leaked from an oil tank in a factory in Taoyuan’s Kuanyin Industrial Park (觀音工業區) on Sunday, seriously polluting the Shulin River (樹林溪), Taoyuan County’s Environmental Protection Bureau (EPA) yesterday said.
The bureau said that the pollution was brought under control yesterday afternoon.
It said a member of the public reported finding oil in the river on Sunday afternoon, and after its inspection officers traced the oil back to the Kuanyin Industrial Park, it asked the park’s sewage treatment plant to immediately close its water gates.
Two rope mops and oil sorbents were placed at the water gates to soak up oil from the water surface, the bureau said.
It added that because the area was near an algal reef along Taoyuan’s coastline, it also contacted the coast guard to send patrol troops to prevent the oil spill from causing damage to the area.
The bureau said it found that about 15 liters of heavy crude oil had leaked from a tank in a plastic product company named Shengyu (昇煜), but it could not enter the locked factory or contact anyone from the company on Sunday.
After continuing cleanup measures through the night, the pollution was brought under control by about 3pm yesterday, the bureau said, adding that it had asked Shengyu to provide manpower to assist in the cleanup yesterday morning.
Because the company did not take immediate response measures and had not reported the situation within three hours, the bureau said it would enforce a punishment according to the Water Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法).
The bureau said it has already ordered the company to finish the cleanup work yesterday.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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