Environmental protection groups yesterday lodged a complaint over the extension of the period granted by the Taoyuan County Government to AU Optronics Corp (AUO) to discharge waste water into the Siaoli River (霄裡溪) in Hsinchu County.
AU Optronics and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) have been continuously discharging wastewater into the Siaoli River since the two LCD panel companies established plants in Taoyuan’s Longtan Township (龍潭) in 2002, Citizens of the Earth director Millie Lee (李怡蒨) said.
The permission to discharge the waste water expired last month, but the Taoyuan County Government approved its extension without permission from the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the group said.
The waste water affects the water source of about 30,000 people living in Hsinchu County’s Sinpu Township (新埔) downstream and up to a thousand hectares of farmlands near the area, Lee said.
“The EPA’s investigations have shown that water from wells in the area contain heavy metals produced by the photonics industry, but there are more than a thousand households and many farmlands along the Siaoli River that use groundwater and water from the wells,” said Lee Han-lin (李翰林), a member of the Siaoli River Youth group.
“The inaction of the government has affected the competitiveness and reputation of our nation,” Siaoli River Youth chairperson Tu Wen-ling (杜文苓) said.
Saying that AU Optronics was listed by Apple Inc as one of its suppliers in January, the groups said if the company is still allowed to discharge the wastewater illegally, they would send an invitation to Apple’s CEO, asking him to visit and pay his regards to corporate social responsibility.
On Feb. 14, the EPA informed the Taoyuan County Government that its permission to allow the extension ran counter to the Environmental Impact Assessment Committee’s conclusions, and an administrative sanction was imposed on the county government.
Department of Water Quality Protection Deputy Director-General Andy Shen (沈一夫) yesterday said the administrative sanction had been dropped on Wednesday, but added that the EPA has informed the Taoyuan County Government that its permission to discharge waste water would expire on March 30.
The county government would have to shoulder the biggest responsibility if the company had to suspend operations because it was not able to obtain proper permission by March 30, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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