The responsibility for the pipelines that transport petrochemical products in Greater Kaohsiung lies with the city government, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chuyn (孫立群) said yesterday.
“It is clear where the responsibility lies,” Sun said as he displayed a copy of the Rules Governing Pipelines Installment and Road Evacuations of Greater Kaohsiung (高雄市道路挖掘埋設管線管理辦法) to reporters.
With those rules, which have been in place since 1988, “the Greater Kaohsiung City Government holds in its hands the power to regulate [pipeline companies],” Sun said.
Photo: CNA
The fatal gas pipeline explosions that took place on Thursday night and Friday morning last week highlighted the lack of oversight for pipeline safety in the nation.
Twenty-eight people were killed in the blasts and 309 injured, while two people are listed as missing.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) told a press conference on Monday that there had not been any checks to test the integrity of the pipeline that is suspected of being the source of the gas leak since it was installed 20 years ago.
That pipeline is owned by the LYC Chemical Corp.
Responsibility for pipelines carrying petrochemical products falls outside the ministry’s authority because the Petroleum Administration Act (石油管理法), for which the ministry is the regulatory agency, only applies to the petroleum refinery industry, not the petrochemical industry.
Petrochemical company operators need permission from the Kaohsiung government to place a pipeline in the special municipality and they are under oversight of the city government during construction of such pipelines, Sun said.
The companies are also required to present plans to test and maintain pipeline safety at the beginning of each year to the city government, the spokesperson said.
Pipeline owners can be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$100,000 for installing a pipeline without a permit, and from NT$20,000 to NT$80,000 each time the company is found to have failed to comply with the rules for testing and maintenance of pipeline safety, he said.
The latter fine can be imposed repeatedly until the violation is corrected, Sun said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition