Legislators at a meeting yesterday to review a proposed amendment to the Water Pollution Control Act (水汙染防治法) passed number of amended articles to tighten regulations on establishments that illegally discharge wastewater or fail to comply with emergency response measures.
The legislators resolved that workers at businesses that discharge polluted water into groundwater or surface water in incidents that lead to deaths face a prison term of seven years to life, in addition to an optional maximum fine of NT$30 million (US$948,000).
The fine was increased from NT$5 million as stipulated in Article 34 of the act.
In addition, a NT$3 million penalty and/or a maximum prison term of three years for leaders of firms that fail to notify local authorities within three hours of leaking potentially dangerous wastewater has been included in Article 31 of the act.
Companies that do not comply with local authorities’ orders to suspend operations — in part or in all — also face the new punitive measures, legislators resolved.
Conflicts broke out between Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞) during deliberations of the maximum fine to be imposed on establishments that forge data during wastewater pollutant monitoring.
Annoyed by Chiang, who first protested against proposals to raise the fine for companies that file forged data, then repeatedly questioned Ministry of Justice officials and Environmental Protection Administration Department of Water Quality Director Hsu Yung-hsing (許永興) as to how officials would avoid fining smaller firms too much, Lin accused Chiang of proposing a “false issue” and wasting everybody’s time.
Lin also raised concerns about what she described as the KMT caucus attempting to pander to corporations by blocking the passage of the increased penalties.
The two later engaged in a loud exchange, with Lin referring to what she called Chiang’s poor attendance record at meetings to review the ongoing amendment and demanded that she name the types of wastewater data that companies are required to file.
When Chiang provided no answers, the two exchanged more angry remarks, with Lin at one point grabbing the microphone on the rostrum, prompting DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), who chaired the meeting, to halt the proceedings.
The concern about smaller outfits receiving the maximum fine once again surfaced, as legislators discussed raising the fine for livestock owners, raised this time by Animal Husbandry Department section head Chen Chung-hsing (陳中興).
Lin criticized the KMT’s and the department’s stance on issuing fines based on how much capital a violator has.
“Are you proposing consulting the businesses about how much they wish to be fined? Following this logic, all the operators in the industrial sector will also clamor for smaller fines. I do not believe that any legislative body anywhere formulates their laws in this manner,” she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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