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March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Formosa Plastics Corp., the world’s second-biggest
maker of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was told by the Taiwanese government to curb
pollution at a plant or it may be fined.
Tests showed the soil and groundwater underneath Jenwu plant have been
contaminated, the Environmental Protection Administration in Taipei said in a
statement on its web site yesterday. The PVC maker must contain the pollution or
pay a fine of as much as NT$750,000 ($23,600), the EPA said.
Formosa Plastics
started making PVC in Jenwu in the southern county of Kaohsiung in
1972, according to its 2008 annual report. The company should “actively prevent
pollution from spreading and improve the conditions,” the EPA said.
A lack of adequate facilities “in the early days” and other factors
including earthquakes had caused waste water from the plant to seep into the
ground, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange today.
Formosa Plastics has since built a waste-water treatment plant that prevents the
pollution of groundwater, according to the statement.
The shares fell 1.6 percent to NT$69.90 in Taipei trading at 11:33 a.m.
today. The benchmark Taiex stock index declined 0.8 percent.
Formosa Plastics
has plants in other locations, including western Taiwan’s Mailiao.
mrcplast.com |
