Three suspended wafer fabs pass environmental impact assessment
Taipei, June 14, 2000 (CENS)--Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) this Tuesday approved the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for three suspended silicon wafer fabs.
The three fabs, including Fab 8E of United Microelectronic Corp. (UMC) and two facilities recently completed by Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. and Analog Technology, Inc., were forced to halt operations after the EPA learned that the three firms did not complete EIAs for plant construction as required by law.
The three companies submitted construction applications in January 1996, April 1997, and July 1997, respectively, to the cabinet-level National Science Council (NSC), which oversees the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) where the plants are based.
The EPA ordered the NSC to cancel the construction permits shortly after the fabs began operation and asked the three companies to apply for EIA approval. The companies filed the applications in May, after the EPA had twice notified the NSC to investigate the circumstances under which the construction permits were issued.
The council's report, submitted to the EPA on June 7, confirmed that the three factories were built illegally, and on June 12, the HSIP informed the three chipmakers that their construction permits were to be withdrawn. The next day, the EPA approved the companies' EIA applications on the condition that over 85% of the wastewater at the plants is recycled. The administration also stipulated that plant pollution levels would be reviewed in three years, and that long-term plans for reducing volatile organic waste must be enacted.
The EPA also approved a plant expansion plan by Macronix International at the June 13 review. |
