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River polluter told to suspend operations: minister
With a host of new violations and subterfuges employed by monosodium glutamate maker Vedan Vietnam coming to light, it will be asked to cease operations, the government has announced.
“We will ask Dong Nai Province to stop the firm’s operation for inspecting its whole system (of wastewater treatment), and the firm to put forth measures to deal with the aftermath,” Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) Pham Khoi Nguyen told reporters in Hanoi Wednesday.
The Taiwanese-invested condiment maker was caught last week dumping large amounts of untreated wastewater in the Thi Vai River in southern Dong Nai Province.
Police have said that the firm has been a repeat violator of environmental regulations and that the dumping of untreated effluents has been going on since its factories were built in 1994.
Case documents are being prepared and will wrap up tomorrow in the process to prosecute Vedan Vietnam for its violations, the minister said.
The ministry will also work with the health sector to assess the impact of the wastewater discharge to local people’s health, he said.
He added that Vietnam will stringently deal with the case, which will deter foreign-invested companies from bringing outdated technologies and wastes into the country, destroying its environment.
At the press briefing, the ministry said it would propose revoking Vedan Vietnam’s certificate to release treated effluents into the river and forcing the company to compensate for economic and environmental losses arising from its actions.
“Vedan Vietnam’s violation is serious and prolonged. After months of investigation, the Environment Police Department have caught it red-handed discharging (untreated) wastewater,” Nguyen said.
Vedan Vietnam has discharged wastewater with pipes hidden deep below the water surface to avoid police detection since it became operational in 1994.
Luong Minh Thao, deputy head of the Environment Police Bureau, said the company also let an old vessel on the Thi Vai River to cover bubbles from its wastewater discharge under the river.
Apart from a “secret” wastewater releasing system, Vedan Vietnam used its modern wastewater treatment system when inspectors carried out checks, Thao said.
The firm has monthly released some 44,800 cubic meters of wastewater into the Thi Vai River, increasing the risk of making it a dead river in 2050, Nguyen said.
In this case, there is no evidence yet that authorities had covered up the firms’ wrongdoing, said Thao.
The Vedan side has not reacted yet, he said, adding that its leaders in Taiwan are considering ways to settle the case.
Deputy MNRE Minister Tran Hong Ha said Vedan Vietnam had increased capacity of its factories without reporting environmental effects.
Ha also said the Taiwanese firm failed to register with Dong Nai Province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment its asbestos-containing wastes.
Other companies producing items like Vedan often spend 15-20 percent of their investments on environmental treatments, but Vedan spends only 1.5 percent, Nguyen said.
Relevant agencies are calculating the losses caused by the firm’s misconduct, the minister said. The cost of treating one cubic meter of wastewater is about VND5 million ($303) each year.
Vietnam will strengthen investigations into violations of environmental regulations by foreign-invested companies, and those importing scrap.
The government will also review legal documents relating to the issue, he said, noting that over 80 percent of more than 100 industrial parks in the country have violated environmental regulations.
Inspectors have just discovered My Xuan Paper Company and Tien Dat Seafood Enterprise dumping their wastes in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, the ministry said at the press briefing.
Thanhnien
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