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TAIWAN: EPA MAY GIVE FPG 60 MORE DAYS TO DISPOSE OF TOXIC WASTE

China News Agency

TAIPEI, Taiwan, 3 June 1999 -- The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is considering granting a 60-day extension for Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) to handle a shipment of toxic waste temporarily stored in an offshore warehouse at Kaohsiung Harbor in southern Taiwan.

EPA received a letter from FPG last week in which it asked that it be given a 90-day grace period to help facilitate the handling of the mercury-laced waste. It also expressed the hope that the waste could be allowed into Taiwan for handling, but this request was rejected.

FPG officials said that they have applied for permission to ship the waste to the United States, but information from the Environmental Protection Agency there shows that three environmental groups have expressed concern about the possibility of the waste being allowed into the United States.

The officials noted that it usually takes a month for a US agency to process an application for entry in cases such as this, and added that while the application process has yet to come to a conclusion, if it is approved, the waste will be allowed into the country in stages.

Taiwan's EPA allowed the waste to be stored at Kaohsiung Harbor for 45 days after it was shipped back from its original disposal site in Cambodia in early April. The temporary storage period will expire on June 6, and if the FPG has not made arrangements by then, it will be punished according to the law.

But the EPA officials said that in view of FPG's efforts to comply with the transshipment, the EPA is considering granting a 60-day grace period, but will also ask the group to complete plans to transship the waste to an alternative location within the 60 days in case the United States does not approve the application. If FPG fails to do so, it will face daily fines for each day the waste remains at Kaohsiung Harbor.

The controversial waste was first shipped from an FPG plant in southern Taiwan late last year to the southern coastal town of Sihanoukville in Cambodia, where it was improperly stored, causing panic and chaos among the town's residents.

FPG apologized to Cambodia for causing unrest among its residents, and shipped the waste in 30 containers back to Taiwan in early April.

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