Kaohsiung City Government officials yesterday said they would re-examine a pollution case involving Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) and impose more penalties after the Kaohsiung branch of the High Administrative Court instructed the city government to return a fine of NT$102 million (US$3.39 million at the current exchange rate) to the firm.
In Thursday’s verdict, the High Administrative Court ruled against the city government in a case stemming from evidence that highly acidic effluent containing nickel from ASE’s K7 plant entered the Houjin River (後勁溪) in October 2013.
The lawsuit was filed by the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau, which monitored the situation and collected samples.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
The fine was calculated based on 70 inspections conducted by the bureau at the plant from 2007 to 2013, but the court ruled in March last year that the fine was unjustified because excessive discharge levels were only found during six of the inspections, while no such problems were found in the other 64 inspections.
The bureau said that ASE did not have the required facilities to treat wastewater from 2007 to 2013.
ASE’s legal team argued that the fine should not have been levied over the entire six-year period.
Bureau Director Tsai Meng-yu (蔡孟裕) said the ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, was disappointing.
“We regret this judgement, but we have to respect it, as it is the final ruling on the case,” Tsai said. “It is important to realize that the ruling was not against the fine, but due to an interpretation of the basis on which it was calculated.”
Tsai said that he would instruct bureau officials to re-examine the evidence and calculate the correct amount to fine ASE.
“We will also continue to monitor ASE’s pollution situation and will impose penalties for any untreated industrial wastewater, as well as for when the company ignored an administrative order to shut down the polluting plant,” he said.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Lee Po-yi (李柏毅) of the Democratic Progressive Party also decried the ruling.
“Residents have all seen ASE’s plant pollute the Houjin River for many years,” Lee said. “It was because of the city government’s concerted effort to identify the source of pollution and pursue the company that ASE attempted to remedy the problem and promised to contribute NT$100 million per year to a fund to support environmental protection.”
“It is unfortunate that the case was challenged,” Lee said. “At the time of the pollution [in 2013], the city government had to act quickly to collect evidence and impose a tough penalty.”
“The ruling does not mean that the city government did anything wrong, so I still support the lawsuit and its aim to stop ASE from polluting the environment,” Lee said.
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