The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) demanded yesterday that Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (新竹科學園區) carry out a survey and analysis of its impact on the environment by the end of November.
EPA officials said that the demand was necessary to ensure the protection of the environment. No environmental impact assessment (EIA) was conducted two decades ago when the park was established.
When the EIA Act went into effect on Dec. 30, 1994, environmentalists began to highlight damage done to the environment by industrial complexes established decades earlier. Activists described such industrial complexes as "fish which slipped through the net of the EIA Act."
This January officials and experts attending the National Economic Development Conference (全國經濟發展會議) agreed that new firms which propose to start operations in industrial complexes which have conducted EIAs and been approved, would not have to conduct new assessments.
EPA officials said, however, that the rule only applied to situations in which the new firms did not emit pollutants in excess of the pollution volume for which the complex was originally designed.
EPA officials said that the rule would facilitate the establishment of new firms in industrial complexes and environmental protection work and bring about more efficient use of land.
The rule suits many existing industrial complexes which have already carried out EIAs, including Yunlin (
EPA officials demanded yesterday that the first three phases of the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park conduct a survey and analysis of their impact on the environment and submit a list of measures for mitigating environmental damage for approval and subsequent implementation by the end of November.
EPA officials said that the report had to include details of pollution volumes that were acceptable. The EPA has often had to conduct remedial EIAs for certain firms, after it has been discovered that original EIAs were never submitted.
One famous case that involved United Microelectronics Corp (聯電, UMC), Taiwan's No. 2 chipmaker, caused a dispute between the Science-based Industrial Park Administration (竹科管理局) and Hsinchu City Government last year.
Environmentalists of the Hsinchu Environmental Protection Association (
"We've monitored the environment for years and found that the park has had a negative impact on the environment," Chung Shu-chi (
Chung, also one of the members of the Environmental Monitoring Team (環境監督小組) under the science park said that the team had found scientific evidence proving that air emitted and waste water discharged from the park had threatened local residents' health.
Lin Sheng-chung (
"We also want to suggest that the EPA demand that other industrial complexes, established decades ago, conduct similar surveys by certain deadlines," Lin said.
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