TSMC's Expansion in Central Taiwan Fails EPA Assessment the Third Time

The expansion plan of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), a major semiconductor foundry, at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) in Taichung City failed to pass environmental assessment at a meeting on Jan. 21 with the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) of the executive ministry, due to fierce opposition from local environmentalists.

It was the third time the plan, calling for investment of NT$500 billion (US$16.12 billion), had failed such assessments.

TSMC Spokesperson and Chief Finance Officer Lora Ho says the company may invest instead in the Southern Taiwan Science Park if the project in the CTSP does not begin construction as scheduled by March 2015, with TSMC to apply to invest on idle land it still owns at its Fab 14 foundry factory site at the southern Taiwan park if necessary.

The EPA assessment meeting saw environmental groups question the legitimacy of TSMC's expansion plan at the CTSP since Taichung already has several heavy sources of pollution, including the CTSP, the Taichung City Incineration Plant, and the Taichung Power Plant.

Air pollution indexes in southern Taiwan and around many industrial zones island-wide typically exceed acceptable limits, with those in the heavy-industry-oriented south being especially serious.

Also they criticized the assessment does not describe the details of the investment plan, especially regarding raw-material storage volume of the plan's phase 1 and phase 2 constructions, without which the assessments could hardly calculate the exact waste volume of the two constructions.

They even suspect the CTSP Administration of purposely underestimating and ignoring the assessment of the potential threat of such wastes to public health, also vowing to file lawsuits if the questions over public health are not fully addressed.

Regardless of the opposition, chief of the park administration, Y.C. Wang, expressed confidence in the investment plan to pass reassessment by the upcoming Chinese New Year and start up as scheduled. The administration, he stressed, will provide the detailed assessments addressing all of the concerns from environmental groups in a week. 
 

EPA Minister K.Y. Wei, who presided over the assessment meeting, decided that the CTSP Administration will provide the detailed assessments addressing the 10-plus questions raised by environmental groups before holding the next reassessment.

The investment plan has passed urban-planning and water-usage reviews, with the project's soil and water conservation plans under review by the Council of Agriculture.

The CTSP Administration had originally expected the project to be approved by the end of 2014 if everything went as planned.

(KL)