Residents of Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District (林園) and local politicians yesterday demanded that state-run oil refiner CPC Corp cease operations of its naphtha cracker plant in the district following a fire on Sunday, the fourth such incident at the plant this year.
Flames and black smoke rose from one of the cracker’s flare stacks at around noon, after one of the plant’s compressors malfunctioned and triggered the emergency shutdown system, causing too much exhaust to be channeled into the stack that could not be completely burned off.
The fire lasted for about 90 minutes, with local residents posting images of the burning stack on Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) Facebook page, saying Linyuan residents have been suffering from the CPC’s pollution for years, while criticizing the city government’s management.
“Is this what it means to ‘light up Taiwan’ and burn up Linyuan?” an Internet user wrote, in reference to the Democratic Progressive Party’s campaign slogan in January’s presidential and legislative elections.
The Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau fined the plant NT$1 million (US$30,576) — the highest possible fine for violating the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法) — saying it was the fourth fire at the plant since February, caused by emergency shutdown of compressors.
The bureau criticized the company for failing to correct the problem, despite repeated accidents, adding that it will increase inspections at the facility.
At a meeting yesterday between company officials and Linyuan residents, borough wardens lambasted the CPC’s safety measures, saying that local residents were fed up with repeated accidents that risk their health and safety.
“Accidents happen very frequently at the plant, about once a month. Residents are worried about whether there would be a large-scale disaster that might put people’s lives at risk,” Linyuan resident Huang Yang-wen (黃揚文) said.
Kaohsiung City Councilor Wang Yao-yu (王耀裕) demanded that the city government suspend operations of the plant and conduct a full inspection to protect local residents, saying that the plant’s operation must be flawed to cause so many safety incidents.
“The NT$1 million fine was nothing for the company, which can easily recover the loss with a slight increase in gasoline prices. The CPC has turned a deaf ear to residents’ and councilors’ repeated complaints,” Kaohsiung City Council Deputy Speaker Cai Chang-da (蔡昌達) said.
CPC Petrochemical Business Division deputy director Huang Chien-hui (黃建輝) said the emergency shutdown is a standard safety measure, but added that the design might be “overprotective” and the company will consult the compressor’s supplier to raise the system’s alert threshold.
Huang Chien-hui said that the company would launch a complete examination of the plant’s facilities and operating systems.
The plant is the nation’s third naphtha cracker. It started operating in 1979 and an extensive facility renewal was completed in 2013, but several accidents have been reported since.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS