MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last month Changhua County Government rejected Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp’s permit renewal applications for three boilers at its coal-fired power plant in the county, insisting that the company apply for new permits, said Taipeitimes.
Without the renewed permits, the plant — which specializes in the production of nylon and rayon — is expected to completely shut down this week.
The Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan said the central government should help Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp and the Changhua County Government should find a solution to license renewal problems as the incident might negatively affect businesses’ willingness to invest.
Negotiations broke down this week, with Changhua County Commissioner seeking assistance from the Environmental Protection Administration to help clarify the permit controversies.
Last month the county government rejected the firm’s permit renewal applications for three boilers at its coal-fired power plant in the county, insisting that the company apply for new permits.
Without the renewed permits, the plant — which specializes in the production of nylon and rayon — is expected to completely shut down tomorrow. In the past few days, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre employees staged protests in front of the Changhua County Government building as the two sides continued negations over the issue. However, negotiations broke down yesterday evening, with Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku now seeking assistance from the Environmental Protection Administration to help clarify the permit controversies.
The association said it supports environmental protection, but it takes time for companies to improve manufacturing processes and the decision to close the factory needs more time for review. Without well-coordinated administrative actions and supplementary measures, the plant’s shutdown would only lead to more protests, harming the interests of both downstream companies and workers, the association said.
As MRC informed before, Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp.'s 320,000 mt/year high density polyethylene (HDPE) unit will shut for a few days at the end of August due to ethylene shortage while its No. 2 steam cracker goes through maintenance from July 29 to September 22. Other polyethylene units, including a 235,000 mt/year low density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) swing plant and a 260,000 mt/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) plant, will not be affected and running.
Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company's plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
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