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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Activists rally over plant permits
Members of environmental protection groups at a protest outside the Yunlin County Government on Friday demand that Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung honor his campaign pledge not to renew permits for coal-fired power plants at the Mailiao naphtha cracker to burn petroleum coke and coal. Photo: Lin Kuo-hsien, Taipei Times
BAD VINYL: A letter from the National Health Research Institutes confirmed that concentrations of TdGA in students correlated with VCM levels from PVC making
By Sean Lin / Staff reporter
An alliance of environmental groups on Friday rallied in front of the Yunlin County Government to request that Yunlin Commissioner Lee Chin-yung （李進勇） honor his campaign promise not to renew the permits for the nation’s sixth naphtha cracker to burn petroleum coke and coal, saying that pollutants from the industrial complex have been proven to be harmful to residents’ health.
The permits for three coal-fired power plants in the industrial complex, run by the Formosa Plastics Group, are set to expire in June, and Lee should issue a public statement that their permits will not be renewed, the demonstrators said.
Citing a report released by the US Environmental Protection Agency, alliance spokesperson Wu Sung-lin （吳松霖） said petrochemical and power plants emit 84 air pollutants — including sulfur dioxide, particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less （PM2.5）, nitro oxides and heavy metals.
A recently published research paper commissioned by the Yunlin County Government to National Taiwan University links carcinogens generated by the complex to local residents’ elevated chance of contracting cancer, he said.
The study, led by National Taiwan University professor Chan Chang-chuan （詹長權）, showed that the chance of residents contracting cancer from the 10th to 12th year the complex has been in operation is 2.82 times higher than that during its first nine years.
Women aged 35 or above who do not smoke, chew betel nuts or have hepatitis C are 9.04 times more likely to develop cancer, it said.
Without singling out the facility, the National Health Research Institutes last year published an open letter to parents of pupils at Ciaotou Elementary School’s Syucuo branch, saying that thiodiglycolic acid （TdGA） concentrations correlative to vinyl chloride monomer （VCM） levels from polyvinyl chloride （PVC） manufacturing — a standard operation at the naphtha cracker — after high levels of TdGA were found during testing of the urine of several students.
Previous studies by Chan and international researchers have shown that TdGA is a major metabolic product of VCM, a known carcinogen.
Wu said that Lee reiterated his promise that he would ban facilities from burning the materials once their permits expire, which resulted in a surge in votes from the five seaside townships near the naphtha cracker and helped Lee win last year’s commissioner election by a landslide.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying （蔡雅瀅） called on the county government to hold public hearings and information briefings to gather public opinion and inform residents on the detrimental effects of air pollution.
She urged the Formosa Plastics Group to fulfill its corporate social responsibility by updating facilities on the site and introducing alternatives to the fuel used at the plants, instead of waiting passively for orders to be given.
In response, Yunlin Environmental Protection Bureau Director-General Tseng Chun-mei （曾春美） said the government has not changed its stance on banning petroleum coke and coal, but the issuance of the ordinance would have to wait until March next year after a proposed bylaw is passed by the county council.
She said that during this interval, the county government would deliberate on shortening the validity of renewed permits from five to two years and tighten application rules on operators at the complex and cap emissions.
Wu expressed approval of the county government’s response, but said that it should address the problems related to denying the three plants permits after the grace period and if it would reject requests from other plants, whose permits are set to expire by 2017.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
