The first case of illegally excessive toluene emissions has been identified via smart law enforcement and could be fined up to NT$15 million (US$486,776), the Ministry of Environment said on Tuesday.
The Environmental Management Administration’s Central Center of Environmental Management spotted inappropriate volatile organic waste emissions by analyzing business waste treatment information and big data of the Air Quality Internet of Things, the ministry said.
The center referred the case to the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office, and initiated a joint investigation with police and environmental authorities in June, the ministry said.
Photo: Huang Yi-ching, Taipei Times
They found the emissions were toluene gas from a polyurethane synthetic leather manufacturer in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, it said.
The company was found to have emitted toluene 24 times more than the maximum acceptable standard, making it the first business in Taiwan to contravene Article 53 of the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法) due to illegally excessive emissions of harmful air pollutants, the ministry said.
It reported using eco-friendly, water-based resin coating when applying for a stationary pollution source operating permit, but it adopted lots of volatile organic materials such as toluene and methyl ethyl ketone in practices, the ministry said.
The company also deliberately reported less raw material consumption than it had actually used to evade paying air pollution control fees, it said.
The fraudulent application for the permit and evasion of fees also contravened Article 54 of the act, the ministry said.
The office is investigating and would hold the company criminally liable, while the Changhua County Environmental Protection Bureau would collect the fees evaded by the company over the past five years, it said.
According to Article 53 of the act, those who emit air pollutants to the extent that their illegally large amounts could harm people’s lives or health can be given a jail term of up to seven years and a fine of up to NT$15 million, the ministry said.
Toluene is a harmful air pollutant that irritates the eyes and respiratory tract when acutely inhaled, causing dizziness, headache, nausea and other symptoms, it said.
The substance could lead to clouding of consciousness or death if the inhaled concentration is high enough, the ministry said.
Long-term exposure to toluene would damage the central nervous system, leading to memory loss and impaired coordination, it said, adding that hearing, liver and kidney function might also be impaired.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS