Residents in Tainan County yesterday expressed strong opposition to an Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) plan to build a final depository for industrial waste in Kueijen township (歸仁鄉), saying that the construction would badly damage local economic development.
EPA head Hau Lung-bin (
Dozens of Kueijen residents yesterday petitioned Hau to give up the idea of building a final depository for industrial waste in their backyard.
PHOTO: SHAO HSIN-CHIEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Kungliao township Chief Lin Feng-chun (
The waste depository, covering 78 hectares, in Kueijen is one of three planned depositories for industrial waste. The owner of the site is Taiwan Sugar Corp.
The EPA has been struggling to find a home for the industrial waste. According to the EPA, only 40 percent of the 1.47 million tonnes of hazardous industrial waste generated annually in Taiwan is properly treated, due to the scarcity of legal waste-handlers. Some dishonest waste handlers even dump hazardous waste in remote areas, causing serious pollution to the land, water and air. None, however, have been prosecuted.
Since July 1999, when the Waste Disposal Act (
The companies creating the waste are calling for the government to establish final depositories for industrial waste, most of which is accumulating at their factory sites.
In March, Hau vowed to establish final depositories northern, central and southern of Taiwan within 18 months.
The EPA's idea of building a depository in Kueijen, however, has provoked strong local opposition.
Hau yesterday apologized to angry Kueijen residents for the EPA's decision to build the depository in Kueijen without communicating with local residents first.
"We will not carry out the construction until receiving support from local residents," Hau said, adding that the EPA will offer residents satisfactory compensation.
Hau stressed that the planned depository would have advanced facilities to prevent any pollution. In addition, Hau said, the segregation would be done appropriately.
Hau's resolution to build a well-designed final depository, however, is questioned by Tainan County legislators.
DPP lawmaker Su Huan-chih (
Su said that Kueijen would become a prosperous township after the high speed rail, currently under construction, begins service in October 2005.
Hau will meet with Tainan County Commissioner Mark Chen (
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