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Formosa Plastics must comply with environmental assessment: EPA
Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA)
Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Stephen Shen said Thursday that his administration will instruct management at the country's sixth naphtha cracker in Yunlin County, southern Taiwan, to comply with measures set forth in an environmental assessment report. Shen made the remarks during a legislative session in response to criticism from lawmakers that the EPA is not doing enough to protect the environment and the health of the people living in the vicinity of the complex, which is operated by the Formosa Plastics Group. Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin cited a report published by National Taiwan University that residents in the area have higher chances of contracting cancer and terminal illnesses. They also have significantly lower lung capacity compared with those who live outside a 10-km radius of the plant, she said. Citing the same report, Tien said the complex is releasing potentially carcinogenic toxic air. In response, Shen said the EPA is doing its job as it has instructed the Yunlin county government to order a closure of questionable plants at the complex. He told reporters after the meeting, however, that the EPA cannot act simply based on one single report and that it will take into account other reports published by epidemiology specialists and relevant organizations before making improvement demands. After seven public safety incidents over the last year alone at the complex in the county's Mailiao Township, operations of several plants there have been suspended.
(By Zoe Wei and Ann Chen)
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