The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will propose an amendment to increase the maximum fine for marine pollution from NT$1.5 million (US$48,518) to NT$300 million, an EPA official said yesterday.
The EPA is drafting the amendment to the Marine Pollution Control Act (海洋汙染防治法), and setting up standards and guidelines for imposing penalties based on the size of ships and the financial conditions of ship owners who violate the law, Department of Water Quality Director Yeh Chun-hung (葉俊宏) said.
The draft amendment will contain a clause encouraging people to report infractions and offering rewards for tip-offs, Yeh said.
Photo courtesy of the Environmental Protection Administraion
Yeh made the remarks after government authorities were on Friday notified of an oil spill near Green Island (綠島) that spread about 10km along the island’s north coast.
The most heavily polluted waters stretched 600m from the island’s lighthouse in the northwest, through Jhongliao Harbor (中寮港) to Sleeping Beauty (睡美人) rock, the Coast Guard Administration’s Green Island Inspection Office Chief Hsiao Su-ping (蕭肅平) said, adding that the seabed around the island was also affected by the oil.
It was the first time the sea bed near the island had been polluted by oil, experts said.
The oil might have come from a cruise, cargo or other large ship, which might have dumped the oil in high seas, from where it washed ashore, Hsiao said.
A clean-up crew on Sunday started working at the site.
It is estimated that it will take three to four days to remove the oil that washed ashore, and seven days to complete the cleanup.
Considering that it is the worst ecological disaster Green Island — a major tourist destination — has faced in 50 years, the EPA is seeking to make punishments more severe by increasing the maximum fine, Yeh said.
The regulations stipulate a fine of between NT$300,000 and NT$1.5 million per day.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday supported the proposed amendment.
“We raised the maximum fine for water pollution following [the river pollution caused by] Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc, but the penalties stipulated in the Marine Pollution Control Act are not sufficient to deter polluters,” DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said.
With an estimated 615kg of oil being spilled, the polluter has to pay a fine of only about NT$2,400 per kilogram of leaked oil and the lenient punishment could even encourage potential violators to discharge oil at sea around Taiwan, DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) said.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
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