《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Formosa Chemicals’ license renewal plan rejected

By Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp （台化） yesterday said that its permit renewal applications for three boilers at its coal-fired power plant in Changhua County have been turned down by the county government.

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A listed member of the Formosa Plastics Group （台塑集團）, the company applied for regulatory permission to continue operating the three boilers in June.

However, the county government insisted that the company apply for a new permit instead of a license renewal, as the amount of coal and steam used during the manufacturing process has changed over the past 50 years.

“The local government is picking on Formosa Chemicals,” vice chairman Hong Fu-yuan （洪福源） told a news conference in Taipei, with the company’s application having been rejected 37 times in the past three months.

Hong said the company has decided to shut down the plant, which will affect 1,000 workers.

However, he said the impact to the firm would be limited, as “the Changhua plant only contributes 4.4 percent to the company’s total revenues and has sustained losses for years.”

The 51-year-old plant has lost about NT$1.7 billion （US$54.22 million） in the past five years, with labor costs reaching NT$13 billion a year, company data showed.

The company’s permit expired yesterday and the plant is expected to end manufacturing on Saturday next week.

“We will resettle [the plant’s] employees after the shutdown, but layoffs might be necessary in the future,” Hong said.

Formosa Chemicals will file an administrative lawsuit over the failed application, he said.

The company said it had tried to meet the local government’s emissions standards and would not apply for a new permit.

“The application for a new permit would take much longer for the Changhua plant to start production,” Hong said.

He said the county government might have broken the law, as the emissions standards it set are much higher than those set out in the Air Pollution Control Act （空氣污染防制法）.

“If the court rules in favor of Formosa Chemicals, we plan to apply for compensation,” Hong said, adding that future losses from the shutdown have not been calculated.

The company has no plans to relocate its Changhua plant, he added.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES