Two companies in Taoyuan County were discovered to have discharged polluted wastewater into rivers on Thursday and Friday and have been served with fines and notices demanding they make improvements within a set period, the county government’s Environmental Protection Bureau said.
The bureau said that during its inspection in Lujhu Township (蘆竹) on Thursday, a company that manufactures coating chemicals including nitrocellulose, pigment, resin and others, was found to have discharged a large amount of wastewater, but that the discharge was temporarily halted when the inspectors were about to take water samples for testing.
After preparing testing equipment, the inspectors visited the company in the afternoon and tested the water from the gutter outside the factory discovering that wastewater in the plant’s drainpipe was high in acidity — with a pH level of 0.8.
Although the company explained it was because there was a crack in its underground wastewater storage tank, the bureau said it would issue a fine for violation of the Water Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法) because the acidic water had already polluted nearby areas in the ocean.
The discharge of water by the company has been prohibited and it has been told to improve before Monday, or else it will face daily fines and could be ordered to terminate operations.
After receiving a complaint, the bureau on Friday also made a on-site inspection at a section of the Shetzu River (社子溪) in Yangmei City (楊梅) and discovered highly acidic polluted water which may have be discharged from a dyeing company about a kilometer upstream from the reported site.
While the company claimed it recycles 100 percent of its wastewater, the bureau found the discharged wastewater in the factory to be at pH level 4.1.
The company would be fined at least NT$100,000 for violation of the pollution act and because it did not obtain a wastewater discharge permit required by regulations.
The bureau said it has demanded the company improve the situation before Tuesday or it will face daily fines.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe