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FPG WASTE MAY BE SENT TO FRANCE

by Chiu Yu-Tzu, Taipei Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan, 21 September 1999 -- RE-ROUTED WASTE: Another deadline has come and gone for the removal of toxic waste from Kaohsiung Port, but FPG says the issue could soon be resolved.

Amid local opposition to importing mercury-contaminated waste, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday issued a 30-day extension for 4,000 tons of waste produced by the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG), saying the company may ship the waste to France or the US rather than a domestic site.

FPG's waste, which should have been removed yesterday, a deadline set by the EPA, is now still in temporary storage at Kaohsiung Port.

Becoming nearly routine, the decision made by the EPA yesterday was the third extension for the waste removal since it was returned to Taiwan from Cambodia in April.

EPA administrator Tsai Hsung-hsiung said yesterday that the decision was to give FPG more time to communicate with both waste handlers abroad and local residents in Taiwan.

The mercury-contaminated waste was dumped by FPG's contracted waste handler in Cambodia last November. When it was confirmed to be toxic, FPG was forced to ship it back to Taiwan under pressure from the international community.

Last week, as the latest deadline was closing in, FPG received approval from the EPA to transfer the waste to its factory site in Jenwu, Kaohsiung County. However, the announcement provoked opposition from local residents and local government.

Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yu Cheng-hsien, said yesterday that he would "use the police authority to stop the shipment."

Yu insisted that both the EPA and FPG explain why the agreed-upon 2,794 tons of cement refuse has become 4,611 tons of toxic industrial waste.

DPP legislators Hong Chi-chang, Tsao Chi-hung, and Yang Chiu-hsing visited the EPA's Tsai yesterday and accused the agency of acting irresponsibly.

"You [EPA officials] should not give in to a big company like Formosa, which is consistently breaking laws," Hong said.

Tsai told legislators that the EPA was looking to pull FPG out of a dilemma. He stressed that the company had informed the agency that the waste could possibly be shipped to a small town in France in a few days, as long as no local opposition was raised at the public hearing on Sept. 22.

Tsai confirmed that FPG had already paid the French waste handler part of the money for the shipment, and an import permit had been issued by the French government.

Environmentalists in southern Taiwan continued to criticize FPG yesterday, saying the company cared little for the people of Taiwan.

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