The Keelung Environmental Protection Department yesterday agreed to inspect the Hsieh-ho Power Plant and ask Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to suspend on-site activities to investigate allegations of soil pollution.
The project to convert the fuel-fired power plant into a gas-fired power plant was approved on Feb. 26, with all 17 members of the environmental impact assessment committee agreeing to the project.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿), Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) and Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) along with environmental groups yesterday held a news conference to call on the Ministry of Environment and the Keelung City Government to investigate claims that Taipower concealed excessive contamination of total petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyl and heavy metals in the soil at the site of the power plant.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
Huang said that the committee approved the project on Feb. 26, despite evidence that Taipower was concealing alleged excessive contamination in the soil.
The ministry refused to provide minutes of the meeting out of concern that committee members might be targeted, but it could have at least provided a summary of the meeting, she said.
The reasons behind the committee’s decision to approve the project should be revealed, Huang said, adding that the ministry should not reduce itself to “Taipower’s environment ministry.”
Chang said that the committee is involved in procedural injustice, as the project should not have been approved before the problem of alleged contamination was resolved.
The minutes of the meeting should be released and the city government should test the site’s soil to see whether it is contaminated, he said.
Chen said there was a conflict of interest when Taipower commissioned Pacific Engineers and Constructors to conduct contamination tests and compile the examination report.
She was referring to a slide in a presentation made by the company to Taipower — which was provided by a whistle-blower — which said that contaminants could be diluted by “turning the soil” or that contamination spots be “avoided” during the sampling.
The ministry and the city government should take responsibility, and require Taipower to submit the concealed data and suspend its activities at the site to prevent it from destroying evidence, Chen said.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) said an examination report showed that the contamination could have been a result of fuel-fired fly ash, stainless steel eroded by acid rain or previously contaminated construction spoils.
To stop fly ash or eroded stainless steel from contaminating the soil, the power plant’s No. 3 and No. 4 fuel generators should cease operations and old equipment should be removed as soon as possible, she said.
The alleged contaminated construction spoils should be strictly regulated and must not be used for land reclamation or other construction projects to avoid secondary pollution, Tsai said.
The government should establish a public-private task force to investigate the alleged contamination and supervise the project, she said, adding that the Taiwan Watch Institute and the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union have professional resources available.
Association chairman Chen Hsien-cheng (陳憲政) said that the ministry attempted to shirk its responsibilities, as the review processes stipulated by the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act (土壤及地下水污染整治法) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) are mutually independent.
The former aims to remediate existing contamination, while the latter can be used to assess future environmental risks, he said.
Soil pollution remediation and environmental impact assessments are interconnected, and Taipower should not base its environmental impact assessment results on misleading information, Chen Hsien-cheng said.
Waimushan Conservation Action convener Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) said the city government should inspect the site to see if Taipower falsified the data by “turning soils.”
It should also require Taipower to suspend all activities, especially at places where the soils are yet to be sampled and tested, he added.
Keelung Environmental Protection Department Deputy Commissioner Kuan Feng-chu (管鳳珠) said the city government expects the ministry to lead the investigation and that additional funding is required to conduct soil testing.
Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fund Management Board deputy executive secretary Wang Jen (王禎) said the ministry would evaluate the feasibility of allocating more funding to the effort after the city government submits a formal request.
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