The Pingtung County Government on Wednesday announced that it is revoking the operating licenses for five chicken farms, including controversial Le Le (樂樂) in Fangliao Township (枋寮), after four years of constant complaints about foul smells.
New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) had previously said that the farm had remained open despite years of complaints because one of its owners is Democratic Progressive Party Pingtung County Councilor Chou Pi-yun (周碧雲).
Pingtung County Council Speaker Chou Tien-lun (周典論) had attempted to cover for Chou Pi-yun, as they are distant relations, Huang added.
The county government on Wednesday said that the revocation of the licenses followed proper procedure and was not due to the efforts of any particular politician.
The Pingtung County Department of Agriculture said that in July it had received official paperwork from the Fangliao Township Office regarding Le Le and the other farms, and dispatched officials to conduct inspections.
Inspections of the farms on July 23, Aug. 19 and Sept. 20 found that they were in breach of Item 2, Article 4 of the Animal Industry Act (畜牧法), the county government said, adding that as they share a fence, they should be counted as one large farm.
Due to the combined size of the facility, it reached the threshold for mandatory installation of equipment to handle animal waste, the department said, adding that the lack of such equipment meant that it was also in contravention of Article 39 of the act.
Despite being given time to make corrections, an inspection on Nov. 19 found that only the walls on the east and west had been demolished, it said.
Another inspection on Nov. 29 found that the farms were still sharing the same wastewater drainage pipe, it added.
The county government cited Article 39 of the act and Article 123 of the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) in revoking the farms’ licenses.
The farms had accumulated NT$1.25 million (US$41,231) in three separate fines on July 31, Aug. 30 and Oct. 22, and had consistently refused to make improvements, it said.
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