The Environmental Protection Administration yesterday posted online the amendment to the Regulations Governing Collection of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fees (土壤及地下水污染整治費收費辦法), which will help raise NT$270 million (US$9.2 million) annually to repair areas with damaged environments.
The new regulations are scheduled to take effect on July 1, the administration said.
Currently, the government is able to levy about NT$650 million in soil and groundwater pollution fees each year.
Tsai Hung-teh (蔡鴻德), executive secretary of the administration’s soil and groundwater remediation fund management board, said the nation started collecting soil and groundwater remediation fees in 2002. As of last year, Tsai said a total of NT$6.1 billion had been collected, adding that more than 90 percent came from contributions by the petrochemical industry.
However, examinations by the administration showed that some of the contaminated sites were polluted by heavy metals, Tsai said, adding that 15 businesses that handled nickel, copper and other heavy metals were now required to pay remediation fees as well, including manufacturers of printed circuit boards and semiconductors.
Meanwhile, Tsai said current regulations enabled remediation fee payers to apply for a 95 percent refund if they exported their excess amount of imported chemical substances to other countries. Both CPC Taiwan and Formosa Group — the nation’s two largest petrochemical product suppliers — paid smaller remediation fees because of the refund policy, Tsai said.
“In the past, suppliers were refunded because it was considered that the excess and petrochemical products, once exported, would not cause any pollution in the country,” Tsai said.
However, exports of petrochemical products have increased, which has in turn increased the refund for suppliers, Tsai said.
After extensive discussions with researchers, Tsai said the amendment would cancel the refund policy for petrochemical product exports.
Tsai said petrochemical product suppliers would only be able to apply for the refund after the unused chemical substances were completely exported, adding that the refund percentage would also be reduced from 95 percent to 70 percent.
As incentives for petrochemical product suppliers to purchase environmental liability insurance and build pollution-prevention facilities, the amendment also authorizes the administration to refund no more than 25 percent of the investment in these two categories, Tsai said.
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