The Environmental Protection Administration said yesterday that Taiwan has received NT$61.3 million in compensation for the cleanup of an oil spill, caused last year by the Greek-registered MV Amorgos. The payment marks the first time the nation has received compensation for marine pollution.
The compensation is for the cleanup only and does not include damages or lawyers' fees.
"The real battle has just begun. We will continue to demand around NT$900 million in compensation [for damages] from the insurance company," said EPA administrator Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) at a press conference yesterday.
"We have no doubt that the polluters will pay the price," Hau said.
Yesterday's sum was the result of long-term negotiations between Taiwan and the ship's insurance company, the Assuranceforeningen Gard-Gjensidig.
The EPA's estimate of the money spent on cleaning up the spill -- based on reports from different agencies, including the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Council of Agriculture, the Construction and Planning Administration and the Pingtung County Government -- came to about NT$93 million.
Coordinated by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd (
The EPA said the difference in the compensation paid and the EPA's original estimate could be attributed to differing views between the two parties over unit prices for various aspects of the clean up.
Hau said that seeking compensation for damages would be more challenging than for the cleanup because the losses are more difficult to estimate. Hau said he hopes to receive the compensation by the end of this year.
"I have to say that money cannot make up for damaged environment," Hau said, adding that if no conclusion is made by this year, Taiwan might file a lawsuit in Norway, where the insurance company is registered.
As for losses to the fishing industry, EPA officials said that the Pingtung District Fishermen's Association had decided to seek compensation on its own and not through governmental channels.
On Jan. 14 last year, the MV Amorgos, on its way from Indonesia to China, ran aground near Kenting National Park in Pingtung County due to bad weather. Four days later, 1,150 tonnes of fuel oil remaining on the ship began to spill and contaminated 6,987m2 of the coastal area within the Lungkeng Ecological Conservation Preservation Area.
The wreck of the Amorgos is still at the bottom of waters off Kenting. The original wreck-removal plan was deemed unfeasible after it broke up and sank after typhoons last summer.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has not yet decided as to whether a new wreck-removal plan should be pursued.
Ministry officials said that the remains pose no environmental risk, because the ship's fuel oil and cargo of iron ore have already been removed.
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
A new tropical storm is expected to form by early tomorrow morning, potentially developing into a medium-strength typhoon that is to affect Taiwan through Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration said today. There are currently two tropical systems circulating to the east of Taiwan, agency forecaster Hsu Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said. The one currently north of Guam developed into Tropical Storm Gebi this afternoon and is expected to veer toward Japan without affecting Taiwan, Hsu said. Another tropical depression is 600km from the east coast and is likely to develp into the named storm Krathon either late tonight or early tomorrow, he said. This
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its