A senior official on Monday said that monitoring data suggested that a Formosa Plastics Group (FPG)-invested steel mill in Vietnam was not to blame for a pollution incident and massive fish die-off.
Hong Fu-yuan (洪福源), who is chairman of group member Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp, presented data that indicated levels of two chemicals blamed for causing the fish deaths near the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp steel plant were below legal limits.
According to two tests conducted in six locations in the ocean near the steel plant in Ha Tinh Province on April 23 and May 5, phenol levels were below 0.001 milligrams per liter (mg/L), below the Vietnamese government’s limit of 0.03mg/L, while cyanide concentrations were below 0.004mg/L, below the Vietnamese limit of 0.01mg/L.
Photo: AFP
“People can use those figures to judge whether the plant’s sewage caused the fish deaths,” Hong said.
Similar tests in 2008, before the plant was constructed, found that phenol levels were 0.005 milligram per liter and cyanide levels were 0.008 milligrams per liter, which were higher than this year’s results, Hong said.
It was the first comment by a FPG official on the incident since June 30, when the group admitted responsibility for causing massive fish deaths in Ha Tinh and promised to pay US$500 million in compensation for affected areas.
Environmental Jurists Association secretary-general Lin Jen-hui (林仁惠) yesterday said that the data Hong cited were incomplete, because they lacked basic information such as the coordinates of inspection sites and who conducted the tests.
FPG “only revealed test results for two chemicals, but there were several more toxic chemicals involved. That makes the credibility of the data highly questionable,” Lin said.
She said FPG’s statement on Monday was inconsistent with claims made earlier accepting responsibility for the pollution and offering to pay compensation.
“If Formosa Plastics Group believed it was wrongly accused, why did it apologize and offer US$500 million in compensation?” Lin asked, adding that FPG should reveal results of an investigation by the Vietnamese government.
Formosa Ha Tinh Steel officials yesterday refused to comment on the issue, saying they were not authorized to deliver a statement.
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