HÀ NỘI – Hà Tĩnh Police yesterday announced the prosecution decision against an urban environmental company for illegally burying some 100 tonnes of solid waste of the notorious Formosa in a farm in Kỳ Anh Commune.

A police investigation showed that the Kỳ Anh Commune Urban Environmental Company has signed a waste burial contract with the Hưng Nghiệp Formosa Hà Tĩnh Steel Company (HFS), a subsidiary in Việt Nam of the trans-national conglomerate Taiwanese Formosa Group, without any legal licences regarding solid waste treatment.

The announcement came after analysis was conducted on waste samples which were allegedly discharged by the company on July 11, and collected from illegal dumping sites. Test results the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) made public yesterday showed that the waste has high concentrations of cyanide, exceeding the permitted level.

The MoNRE demanded the HFS to pay an administrative fine for its violations on environmental protection regulations, specifically for not using qualified waste treatment facilities to dispose of such hazardous waste.

The MoNRE also requested that the company rectify the consequences of its actions.

According to the MoNRE, as soon as reports of illegal burial of waste were received from Kỳ Anh Urban Environment Company, the ministry sent an inspection team to Hà Tĩnh to co-operate with the provincial People’s Committee in analysing waste samples, checking the progress of treating waste and verifying the entity’s legal capacity.

The team has asked the Kỳ Anh company to collect the entire amount of illegally dumped waste and coordinate with relevant agencies to handle it.

As of July 17, the company had collected 390.72 tonnes, including rock. All the waste was sealed and transported to a store at a waste treatment facility of Hà Tĩnh Industrial Waste Processing Limited Company.

The MoNRE has taken samples of waste, soil, samples of surface water and underground water at areas where waste was buried illegally to clarify whether it is hazardous or not.

The samples were then delivered to qualified laboratories for testing.

The ministry confirmed that HFS be accountable for failing to classify and determine the volume of hazardous waste which must be registered and managed in accordance with state regulations; transfer hazardous waste to organisations or individuals without licence to process hazardous waste.

Regarding the responsibility of Kỳ Anh company, the ministry said it has transferred all documents relating to the company’s violations to Hà Tĩnh Province’s police for further investigation and punishes it in accordance with state law. —VNS