Formosa Plastics to face heavy fines

EPA Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) said the company will be fined according to the Administrative Punishment Act, based on its “Unjust Enrichment,” which is the amount of money earned by the Formosa Plastics Group through operating the factory inappropriately. The actual amount of the fine is still under calculation but the EPA estimated that it would be above NT$10 million.

“If they earned NT$10 million while they were operating irresponsibly, the fine will be NT$10 million. If it was NT$100 million, the fine will be NT$100 million,” Shen said.

It will be the first time a private company has been fined for pollution according to the Administrative Punishment Act.

Li Chih-tsun, chief executive officer of FPG was at the Jenwu plant yesterday morning. He had apologized for the incident.

FPG said according to the EPA tests in November last year, the level of toxic 1,2-dichloroethane was only 2.16 times higher than the allowed standard. However, according to Jenwu Township mayor Shen Ying-cheung (沈英章), the level was tested 302,000 times higher than the permitted level last August. The mayor said all the residents living nearby are very worried about the impacts on their health.

According to EPA, FPG found out that the Jenwu plant had leaked toxic 1,2-dichloroethane into the soil and groundwater back in 2006 and stopped the pollution source. However, it did not report the pollution to the EPA as required by law. Also, it did not clean up the pollutants already released into the environment.

In 2007, local organizations reported that the water near the Jenwu plant was polluted, but during local meetings regarding the pollution that FPG representatives attended, the company denied they were the source.

It was not until the EPA found out last year that the groundwater underneath the plant was contaminated by high levels of 1,2-dichloroethane did FPG spend NT$100 million to build 14 groundwater circulation wells to stop the pollutants from spreading. The EPA said FPG was irresponsible and unlawful in acting passively.

The law states that companies should report to the EPA within three hours of discovering leakages of toxic substances. Factories that fail to do so are subject to a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$600,000.

Minister Shen said he met with representatives from FPG yesterday morning and told them that if similar incidents happen in the future but the company fails to report to EPA immediately, the EPA will order the factories to stop all operations.

The EPA said they would not stop the Jenwu plant's operation now because the leakage of pollutants had stopped. Under the current law, EPA can only stop a factory's operation when the pollutants are still spreading out.

The plant is still working to restore the areas they polluted. Kaohsiung County government has set up a task force to monitor the progress of the improvement project. The government had ordered FPG to send them written reports of the progress every month, instead of the normal practice of reporting every half-year.

EPA had taken samples of soil and groundwater around the Jenwu Plant area last week. The results will be out on April 29.

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