Additional Pollution Incidents in Southern Taiwan

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003586 SIPDIS DEPT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON AND AID DEPT FOR EAP/RSP/TC AND OES/PCI USDOC FOR 6200/ITA/TD/ENVIROTECH EXPORTS FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE EPA FOR OIA - DAN THOMPSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ECON TW ESTH SUBJECT: Additional Pollution Incidents in Southern Taiwan Ref: a) Taipei 2997; b) Taipei 3491 ¶1. Summary. In a series of investigations into industrial pollution in Southern Taiwan, Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (TEPA) completed research on 175 unoccupied industrial factories and found five major incidents of soil and groundwater pollution that resulted from the production processes at currently closed factories in southern Taiwan. The five plants in Kaohsiung, which produced petrochemicals, have all been closed for some time. Kaohsiung County Environmental officials report that, while one site has already been converted to residential use, the situation at the remaining sites is improving and clean up will be accomplished before the land is put to new use. End Summary Background -------------- ¶2. Based on TEPA's report, the five polluted sites are as follows: - China Petrochemical Development Corporation (CPDC) in Chienchen, Kaohsiung City. This plant covered approximately 45 acres of land. It manufactured several petrochemical items including hydrochloric acid and bleaching agents. The plant ceased production in 1988. The equipment was sold and shipped to Indonesia. CPDC has recently been fined for being involved in the previously reported pollution incidents in Tainan and Kaohsiung. See reftels for details. - Taiwan VCM Corporation's Kaohsiung plant, a 7.5-acre site, was leased to Taiwan VCM by CPDC. It produced vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). The plant ceased production in 1992 when the site was also to CPDC. - Kaohsiung Sulfuric Acid Corporation's Kaohsiung plant (KSAC). Government-run KSAC was one of the major fertilizer producers in Taiwan. It occupied 22 acres of land. Production ceased in 2004 and the land was rezoned for commercial use. - Feng An Metal Industrial Corporation in Hsiaokang, Kaohsiung City, operated a zinc and zinc alloy ingot facility on a ten acre site in the Ta Fa Industrial Park. The plant ceased operation in 1999. Responsibility for the clean up of this site is being debated. The company �00A; defaulted on $310 million in debt and was foreclosed on. The owner, Chu An-hsiung, former Speaker of Kaohsiung City Council, is presently a fugitive from justice on a warrant stemming from an election fixing scandal in the Kaohsiung City Council. He is believed to be in hiding on the mainland. - Ho Cheng Metal Industrial Corporation in Tashe, Kaohsing County, which began producing iron, copper, and stainless steel strips in 1984. Production was halted in ¶2000. The facilities and land were auctioned to private investors who built residential apartments on the land. ¶3. Recently, two major newspapers published headline articles concerning TEPA's findings. Based on press reports, there was extremely high mercury content (11,600ppm parts per million) in the soil in the CPDC Chienchen plant, 580 times more than TEPA's established standard for soil pollution levels (TEPA's maximum limit is 20ppm). Findings also indicated that groundwater at CPDC's plant and the adjacent Taiwan VCM plant was seriously contaminated. Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) levels in the soil of KSAC's site tested at 4,790 ppm, much higher than TEPA's standard of 1,000 ppm. ¶4. Officials of Kaohsiung's EPA (KEPA) expressed disappointment in the media reports. Division Chief Wang said the situation is not as awful as the reports indicated. According to Wang, KEPA alerted CPDC, Taiwan VCM, and KSAC about the pollution problems in June 2004, and requested the companies to develop plans for clean up. KEPA initially demanded that the clean up be completed by June 2005. However, at the request of the plant owners, the deadline was extended to January 15, 2006. According to Wang, CPDC is in the process of removing the contaminated soil from its plant and the adjacent Taiwan VDM. The polluted soil has been packed in plastics bags and stored in warehouses. KEPA officials have been monitoring the removal process. A final disposal plan for the removed soil has yet to be developed. ¶5. KEPA conducted a second inspection of the three above- mentioned plants in July this year. Results showed improvement of the situation. According to Wang, mercury content in the soil of CPDC plant and the adjacent Taiwan VCM site declined to 560ppm. Results also showed that TPH levels in the soil of KSAC decreased to 2,470ppm. While saying that pollution in groundwater had also decreased, Wang did not have specific figures for the groundwater. ¶6. KEPA officials have been trying to convince Kaohsiung residents that tap water is safe to drink because none of the contaminated groundwater was supplied for household use. Meanwhile, in response to the media's reports of plans on developing the proposed Kaohsiung Economic and Trade Park on polluted sites, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai stated that the city's EPA would maintain close supervision on the operators' improvement efforts, and that no rezoning plans on the sites would be approved until the soil is decontaminated. Mayor Chen endorses the development of the park and announced that the project would move forward as scheduled. ¶7. Comment: Like the CPDC sites mentioned in reftels, one of the current sites had been sold to the public sector. Plans were in place to privately develop the other sites as well. This has delayed clean up, as the new owners do not wish to be responsible for problems caused by the previous owners which were not disclosed to the new owners. Environmental NGOs are closely checking the sites of other factories that formerly belonged to government-run or government-subsidized companies. It is likely that more polluted sites will be discovered. AIT/K will continue to monitor the situation and report further developments as they become known. End Comment. Thiele Paal