Radio Free Asia Vietnam has reported that Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment has proposed Vietnam’s Prime Minister Mr Phạm Minh Chính to stop a special supervision mechanism for the Taiwanese owned Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh steel factory and switch to a normal monitoring arrangement endingo a heightened level of oversight of a Taiwanese-owned steel plant responsible for the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster more than five years ago. The ministry said it had determined that Formosa had addressed and repaired the detrimental impacts of the spill. Environmental experts and local residents are objecting to the plan, fearing additional environmental damage by the plant if the current level of oversight is diminished. A woman living near the plant told RFA that she does not understand the ministry’s recommendations, especially because fish and other marine life from the affected areas continue to show effects from the disaster. She said “After 2016 and until now, dead fish sometimes have washed ashore, especially when the waste is discharged, and the amount of live fish is less than before. It occurs a few times every year.” She added that almost half of the villagers in the area where she lives have developed health ailments from inhaling smoke and foul-smelling gas emitted by the plant. The April 2016 release of toxic chemicals, including cyanide, polluted the coastline of four provinces over a total area of about 200 kilometers, killing an estimated 115 tonnes of fish and harming the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, including fishermen and tourism industry workers. Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged the spill came from its massive steel plant located at a deep-water port in Ha Tinh province’s Ky Anh district. The company offered USD 500 million in compensation after a Vietnamese government investigation determined that incident caused considerable environmental damage. Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation is a steel plant established in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Vietnam by the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company under the backing of the Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group. Development of the plant began in the 2010s. Steel production started in May 2017
Radio Free Asia Vietnam has reported that Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment has proposed Vietnam’s Prime Minister Mr Phạm Minh Chính to stop a special supervision mechanism for the Taiwanese owned Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh steel factory and switch to a normal monitoring arrangement endingo a heightened level of oversight of a Taiwanese-owned steel plant responsible for the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster more than five years ago. The ministry said it had determined that Formosa had addressed and repaired the detrimental impacts of the spill. Environmental experts and local residents are objecting to the plan, fearing additional environmental damage by the plant if the current level of oversight is diminished. A woman living near the plant told RFA that she does not understand the ministry’s recommendations, especially because fish and other marine life from the affected areas continue to show effects from the disaster. She said “After 2016 and until now, dead fish sometimes have washed ashore, especially when the waste is discharged, and the amount of live fish is less than before. It occurs a few times every year.” She added that almost half of the villagers in the area where she lives have developed health ailments from inhaling smoke and foul-smelling gas emitted by the plant. The April 2016 release of toxic chemicals, including cyanide, polluted the coastline of four provinces over a total area of about 200 kilometers, killing an estimated 115 tonnes of fish and harming the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, including fishermen and tourism industry workers. Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged the spill came from its massive steel plant located at a deep-water port in Ha Tinh province’s Ky Anh district. The company offered USD 500 million in compensation after a Vietnamese government investigation determined that incident caused considerable environmental damage. Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation is a steel plant established in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Vietnam by the Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Company under the backing of the Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group. Development of the plant began in the 2010s. Steel production started in May 2017
