Residents of Meinung township (
Meinung environmentalists pointed to the action taken by officials from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) last week after an inspection of the agency's local bureau at the Kaohsiung County government.
According to a news release from the Meinung Environmental Protection Union (MEPU,
Meinung anti-incinerator activists said yesterday that the claim that the incinerator was a temporary solution was not true, adding that the officials were trying to interfere with the continuing investigation into the incinerator being carried out by the Kaohsiung prosecutors' office.
"We cannot believe that EPA officials are helping one another like this. They are risking people's lives," said Liu Chin-ying (
"The irony is that such a highly controversial incinerator is still under operation at the present," Chang Cheng-yang (
Several environmental officials have been questioned by prosecutors who are investigating the circumstances surrounding the construction and operation of the incinerator.
On Nov. 3, prosecutors interrogated officials, including the director of the department of environmental protection at the Kaohsiung County government, Ting Shan-lung (丁杉龍), and former environmental official Ho Chun-chieh (何俊杰).
Prosecutors are investigating both under suspicion of profiteering and forgery in relation to the incinerator. Ting and Ho were released on NT$250,000 and NT$200,000 bail respectively.
In addition, three environmental officials, Wu Jui-chi (
Prosecutor Yeh said in early November that the operation permit issued by the local environmental bureau was in question because the waste incinerator sits in an area that previously was a buffer zone for the Laonung River (
Residents have accused the local government of narrowing the required buffer zone along the river in 1998 to allow the incinerator to be built within the area.
Prosecutor Yeh also said that any pollution that occurred at the river might affect the Kaoping River (
Meinung residents have also complained that operators of the waste incinerator did not apply for a construction license for the incinerator until last December, and that testing had not begun until last September.
Prosecutors said that they would subpoena some suspected residents' representatives involved in the case.
Meinung residents have complained about what they say is obvious evidence of negative impacts on the environment and health caused by the operation of the incinerator. They have protested at least three times in front of Kaohsiung County government to urge the government to close the waste incinerator permanently.
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