The 40th supervisory committee meeting on the No. 6 naphtha cracker ended in deadlock on Tuesday with Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) calling for an open debate with Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) on the environmental hazards reportedly caused by the plant since its establishment in 1991.
The plant in Mailiao Township (麥寮) has faced a string of incidents in recent months including two major fires in July and two reports of foul odors emanating from the site last month.
Su said the county government has repeatedly voiced its concerns over the plant, especially after the fires, but its pleas have largely been ignored by the Industrial Development Bureau and the conglomerate.
“Even now, there is no designated lane for the oversized vehicles used by the plant. The plant has become a nuisance for local residents and this is just one of the many examples,” Su said.
The county government complained about FPG’s failure to reduce the noise, air and water pollution emitted by the facility and criticized it for shoddy fire fighting management.
A Yunlin Fire Department official said it took three days to fully extinguish the July 7 fire and he pointed the finger at the plant’s firefighters for failing to contain the initial blaze.
An official from the county’s Environmental Bureau said the plant discharges as much as 18,000 tonnes of waste water a day and the pH level was as low as 6.3 — just within the legal range of 6 to 9 for agricultural irrigation use.
However, experts commissioned by the conglomerate said research showed that the plant did not pose a hazard to the environment and that its toxic waste emissions, as well noise pollution and traffic levels, were all within legal standards.
FPG must submit an overall health impact assessment report by the end of this month.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has continued its investigation into allegations of forged signatures in recall efforts today by searching the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) city chapter and questioning several personnel including the chapter director, according to media reports. Among those questioned and detained were KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), chapter secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿), chapter secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文) and first district committee executive director Tseng Fan-chuan (曾繁川). Prosecutors said they would not confirm reports about who had been summoned. The investigation centers on allegations that the ongoing recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤)
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
RSS