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FPG WASTE TO STAY IN KAOHSIUNG FOR ANOTHER 45 DAYS

CHINA NEWS AGENCY

KAOHSIUNG, August 6 -- The Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Friday granted a 45-day grace period to the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), allowing it to continue storing toxic waste in the southern port of Kaohsiung.

The period is an extension of a previous grace period granted by the EPA allowing the waste to be temporarily stored at pier No. 63 in Kaohsiung Port which expired on Friday. FPG now has until Sept. 20 to dispose of the mercury-laced waste or risk losing a NT$50 million guarantee fee.

The EPA also signed a pledge with FPG to prolong another existing agreement that the EPA will continue to monitor the waste, and that FPG must maintain the safety of the tanks at the pier in which the waste is being stored.

The 4,000 tons of industrial waste have been stored at the port for the past four months, ever since FPG was forced to ship it back from Cambodia earlier this year. The group had planned to bury the waste in a southern village in Cambodia, but was thwarted when residents found out and a mass panic ensued, attracting international outrage.

FPG has been exploring different avenues to dispose of the waste in another country, but has had no success. It has been said that FPG may now dump the waste at a landfill in Mailiao, in central Taiwan's Yunlin County.

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