Following a fire that broke out at Taoyuan County’s Kuanying Industrial Park before dawn on Saturday, the Taoyuan County Government’s Environmental Protection Bureau yesterday said that initial testing on the concentration of toxic chemical substances in the air showed levels were within the appropriate limits, but added that wastewater had polluted a nearby river.
The fire broke out at 1:29am on Saturday near Datong 1st Rd in the industrial park and the flames spread across seven plants, including the Gearex Corp, the bureau said.
The bureau said that because the toxic chemical substances stored at Taiwan K.K. Corp and Lysurf Chemical Co were affected by the fire, it immediately initiated the emergency response mechanism and the Environmental Protection Administration also sent its toxic substance emergency response team.
Along with the response team, the bureau said it applied the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique to obtain pollution data in the surrounding at-risk areas.
The probe found that the concentration of methyl alcohol was 68.5 parts per million (ppm), below the standard of 200ppm; while the concentration of ethyl acetate was 56ppm, below the standard of 400ppm, collected at 4:30am.
The concentration levels of methyl alcohol and ethyl acetate had dropped to 5.4ppm and 2.8ppm respectively when tested at 6:30am, the bureau said, adding that the toxic substance stored at Taiwan K.K. Corp — hydrazine — had become nitrogen oxides when burning, so hydrazine had not been detected.
The bureau said it will impose a fine between NT$100,000 (US$3,336) and NT$1 million on the Gearex Corp for air pollution caused by its fire accident, based on the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法).
In addition, a fine between NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 will be given to Ener-Com Technology Co for violating the Water Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法) by polluting the nearby Fulin River, the bureau said.
The bureau added that if the situation does not improve before a designated date, the company can be ordered to suspend its work.
According to the bureau, about 5,000 barrels, each containing 190 liters of industrial waste organic solvent, were stored at the Ener-Com Technology Co, and so it was obliged to place booms and sandbags along the Fulin River as well as using two tanker trucks to extract the wastewater from fire trucks in order to prevent the water pollution from spreading farther.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS