Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered an investigation into how a Taiwanese-owned steel plant located near central Vietnamese beaches where millions of dead fish washed ashore last month received approval to pipe wastewater directly into the sea.
With the official cause of the fish deaths still unknown and the newly sworn-in government struggling to contain growing public anger over the disaster, Phuc said the government was determined to track down the main culprits with “objectivity, honesty, prudence and urgency.”
“This is the most serious environmental incident Vietnam has faced,” Phuc said. “We must continue to probe the cause of this disaster. Whichever agency, organization, individual that violates the laws will be investigated on a scientific basis. No one is allowed to cover up any infringements. The government is determined to protect the people’s rightful interests.”
The investigation comes after protesters took to the streets last weekend to criticize the government’s response to the crisis, which has tested the government’s ability to balance public health and safety concerns against economic development and the interests of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼廠). The company, a unit of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), is considering whether to raise its investment in Ha Tinh from US$10.5 billion to US$28.5 billion.
“If the disaster occurred in other countries, a state of emergency would have been declared or at least warnings would have been given to the public,” a Facebook user named Nguyen Tien Thanh said. “What we have seen is that nearly a month after the incident was first reported, the government leader started giving instructions.”
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel executive vice president Chang Fu-ning (張復寧) said the steel plant’s wastewater treatment system had received all appropriate approvals.
“We’ve received official notification about the inspection,” Chang said. “Our wastewater discharge system received a license from the environment ministry, and we went through an environmental protection impact assessment. It is beyond doubt.”
More than 70 tonnes of wild and farmed fish have been found dead on the coast of four provinces since early last month.
A preliminary investigation by Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said the fish might have been killed by toxins released by human activities or algal blooms known as a red tide. It also says there is no evidence to show Formosa was the culprit. According to tests conducted by the Thua Thien Hue government, seawater samples taken from locations where the dead fish were found showed high levels of heavy metals.
Phuc has also ordered Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha and the Ha Tinh Province to monitor the wastewater discharge system at the steel plant and activate the automatic monitoring system to collect wastewater samples for testing.
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