The Ministry of Environment said it has requested the Keelung City Government to investigate claims that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) concealed excessive heavy metal contamination in soil during renovations at the Hsieh-ho Power Plant (協和電廠).
The ministry made the announcement after environmental groups on Thursday said Taipower was covering up the project’s heavy metal pollution, calling on the ministry and the city government to initiate an investigation in case the company destroys evidence.
The total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) pollutants in the project area were found to be eight times higher than the acceptable concentration in 2017 and were listed by the city government for supervision the following year, Waimushan Conservation Action convener Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) said, citing information from a Taipower whistle-blower, who asked to remain anonymous.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
The supervision was lifted in 2019 after what was deemed necessary response measures were taken, but TPH pollutants rose to 54 times the maximum acceptable concentration in 2021, he said, adding that the ministry, the city government during the tenure of former mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) and the Soil Pollution and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fund were reportedly aware of the situation.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association chairman Chen Hsien-cheng (陳憲政) cited Taipower as saying at environmental impact assessment (EIA) meetings that the soil sampling conducted in December in 2019 showed that the pollutant concentrations were lower than regulatory standards.
However, the company’s own examination report showed that it had identified pollution spots as early as August of the same year, he said.
The pollution spots were in areas where the soil samples were collected, yet they appeared to have been intentionally excluded by Taipower, Chen said.
The ministry said that new evidence should not affect EIAs and the EIA committee members did not review the evidence of excessive pollutants, he said.
Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) cited the whistle-blower as saying that heavy metal pollutants in the project’s soils, such as chromium, copper, zinc, nickel and arsenic exceeded their maximum acceptable concentrations.
Pacific Engineers and Constructors (泰興工程), the company commissioned to compile the EIA report for the project, allegedly taught Taipower how to leave out pollution spots by “turning the soils” or “removing the spots,” she said.
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