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Bureau orders ASE
plant to shut down
TOXIC WASTEWATER: Greater Kaohsiung’s
Environmental Protection Bureau said ASE has violated the Water Pollution
Control Act and has been fined six times in two years
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Greater Kaohsiung Government
Environmental Protection Bureau Director-General Chen Jin-de, center, announces
the closure of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc’s K7 plant at a press
conference in Greater Kaohsiung yesterday.
Photo: CNA
A plant of Advanced Semiconductor
Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) was ordered to shut down yesterday by the Greater
Kaohsiung Government’s Environmental Protection Bureau for multiple violations
of regulations and discharging toxic wastewater into the nearby Houjin River
(後勁溪).
The shutdown will take effect immediately after the K7 plant receives the order
via registered mail and will last until ASE produces a comprehensive plan for
improvement, bureau officials said.
The order came a day after the world’s largest provider of integrated-circuit
packaging and testing services submitted a plan on Thursday afternoon for
rectifying the pollution problems at the plant, which is one of more than a
dozen operated by ASE in Greater Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓).
The plant’s illegal discharge of highly acidic wastewater containing nickel and
other substances was first revealed by the bureau on Monday last week. It then
gave the company 10 days to submit a report on dealing with the problems for
review.
Environmental Protection Bureau Director-General Chen Jin-de (陳金德) told a press
conference at 5pm yesterday that ASE has violated Article 73 of the Water
Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法) and because the bureau considers the violations
to be severe, it can order the company to cease operation.
The bureau listed eight reasons that led to its decision, including that the
company has violated the act numerous times — it was fined six times between
2011 and last year — but made no improvements, and had known about the toxic
wastewater on Oct. 1, but did not report the matter to the bureau and
intentionally continued discharging the contaminated wastewater.
Other reasons include that the company used tap water to dilute the wastewater
in its storage tank before environmental inspectors collected water samples for
checks, that its automatic water monitoring data showed many abnormal water
quality entries after Oct. 1 and that large amounts of wastewater were
discharged into the sewage system without passing through the flow meter between
Oct. 5 and Oct. 7.
The bureau added that it found wastewater treatment equipment damaged and
operated inadequately when it examined the plant between Saturday last week and
Thursday. It said the data reports submitted by the company are alleged to have
been fabricated, while the nickel concentration level of 4.38mg/L found in its
wastewater is much higher than the level of 0.003mg/L found in the river water
between August and last month.
Nickel can cause severe contamination to nearby farmland.
Meanwhile, the city government’s Labor Affairs Bureau said the shutdown is due
to the company’s mistakes, so it is not allowed to lay off or send workers on
unpaid leave during the shutdown period.
Additional reporting by CNA
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