Environmentalists yesterday gathered at a temple in Kaohsiung’s Houjin (後勁) area to celebrate the closure of a refinery operated by CPC Corp, Taiwan, and demand that the state-run company remove all the oil tanks in the complex.
Residents and environmentalists paid tribute to the local deities, giving thanks for the success of their decades-long struggle to have the refinery shuttered. A New Year’s Eve concert is also to be held to celebrate the success of the campaign.
Local resident Liu Yung-ling (劉永鈴), who climbed a flare tower in the refinery and hung a protest banner during a demonstration in 1990, said: “I have waited for 25 years, and the day has finally arrived.”
Photo: Ke Yu-hao, Taipei Times
The controversial refinery began construction in 1990, and the Executive Yuan promised nearby residents that the refinery would be relocated by the end of this year.
However, 42 oil tanks in the complex are to remain operational to bolster the military’s oil reserves and maintain gasoline supply in southern Taiwan, CPC said.
Local residents refused to accept a partial shutdown, as the remaining tanks pose risk of an explosion similar to the Kaohsiung gas pipeline blasts that killed 32 people and damaged major roads in the city’s Cianjhen (前鎮) and Lingya (苓雅) districts last year, Liu said.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Shih-lung (黃石龍) said that former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) had pledged to close down all the facilities in the complex, including the oil tanks and pipelines, and the CPC is breaking that promise by keeping the oil tanks running.
“Are 25 years not long enough for the CPC to prepare for the full relocation of the facility?” Huang asked.
“Residents plan to enter the complex to see if all the oil tanks are closed on the first day of the new year. We will launch another protest and occupy the vicinity of the complex if the tanks are still operational,” he said.
Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance legislative candidate Lee Ken-cheng (李根政) said the refinery has caused 178 hectares of groundwater to become polluted, but the CPC has only carried out remediation work at one oil tank area over the past 12 years, which represents a mere 0.47 percent of the whole area contaminated.
Lee demanded that the government and the company make public the extent of the pollution and a remediation plan and called for the repurposing of the site into a geological park.
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