An Environmental Protection Administration committee requested additional information yesterday from Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) before it could rule on expansion plans for an Yunlin County plant.
Expansion plans for the Sixth Naphtha Cracker in Mailiao Township (麥寮) underwent a fourth review yesterday.
The committee in charge of the environmental impact assessment for the plans said that a long list of supplementary information must be submitted before the panel could rule on the expansion.
After the committee announced its preliminary verdict, the company’s representatives declined to talk to reporters, saying only that they “wouldn’t know the answers to any of the questions” and immediately left the meeting.
The case under review was the fourth phase of the plant’s expansion. The plans have been stalled because of concerns over the massive volume of water the facility would consume. Three plants would be added at the location, which would increase water consumption by 1,644 tonnes per day.
The company said processed waste water and recycled cooling water from the plant could cover the additional water needs. Although more water would be needed per day, the company said 600 tonnes less waste water would be produced per day.
The committee, however, questioned the feasibility of the plan.
One of the committee members — all of whom are anonymous to ensure that they can review the case independently — said that “without an itemized balance sheet, the conservation would just be on paper. There is no way for the environmental impact assessment committee to inspect how the waste water is actually used.”
Furthermore, some of the water that would be recycled for the new facilities would come from one of the existing plants, which calls the water conservation plan into question, the same member said.
Another committee member said the expansion would add 344,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
“Although it is inevitable that, as time passes, a plant as large as the Sixth Naphtha Cracker will need to expand ... it is important to protect the environment as these changes are made and the environmental impact assessment committee’s responsibility is to ensure this protection,” the panel member said.
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