The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday rejected a report by state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC) on the difference in environmental impact caused by structural changes in the desulfurization facilities at its refinery in Chiayi County’s Dalin Township (大林) over an inconsistency between the emission amounts presented in the report and an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report previously submitted by the company.
CPC representatives who attended yesterday’s EIA meeting said the structural change would cut annual nitrogen dioxide emissions and concentrations from three hydro-desulfurization plants, including two plants where naphtha and diesel are introduced to the process, as well as a sulfur plant.
However, EIA committee member Lung Shih-chun (龍世俊) raised doubts over the numbers on sulfur oxide concentrations from the diesel and naphtha desulfurization plants, saying that the statistics had been changed from 15 parts per million (ppm) to 13ppm and 10ppm respectively compared with an EIA report on development at the Dalin facility, which the committee approved in 2013.
The company should not have altered the statistics listed in a report that had already been passed by the committee, and if it intends to indicate any difference in the statistics, it should make a table detailing the changes, she said, adding that: “There is only a fine line between negligence and fraud.”
She also criticized the company over a proposal to increase nitrogen dioxide concentrations to 30ppm — as opposed to the maximum permissible concentration level of 15ppm granted by the committee — for operations at its sulfur plant, without providing a reason for the change.
Other committee members also expressed concern over the possibility of such an oversight undermining the credibility of future EIA meetings, warning CPC that it would face legal liability if statistics it presents are found to be fraudulent after an EIA report is passed.
CPC Dalin Refinery general manager Wu Yi-fang (吳義芳) said that the changes were made to reflect the current situation at the facility in compliance with advice given by the EPA’s Bureau of Environmental Inspection during inspections carried out on the site.
While Lung expressed approval of CPC’s honoring its pledge to cut volatile organic compound emissions, she said that the report should be returned so that the company would have an opportunity to clarify confusing portions in it.
Following a deliberation on the opinions given by committee members, Environmental Protection Administration Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said the report had been rejected and that the firm should render a revision for a second EIA committee review.
“It was a punishing decision,” Wu said.
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