HANOI:
Vietnam has told owners of a Taiwanese-built steel plant to dig up a
controversial waste pipe, even after it found no evidence tying its discharge
to mass fish deaths that have triggered health fears and public anger.
Huge
numbers of dead fish have appeared at farms and on beaches in central Vietnam
since April 6, impacting 200 km (124 miles) of coastline, with no known cause
of what the government is calling one of its worst ever environmental
disasters.
Environment
Minister Tran Hong Ha declared illegal the waste pipe operated by Hung Nghiep
Formosa Ha Tinh, a unit of Formosa Plastics , after officials examined water
samples around the site.
"We
propose to have measures in place to monitor this system after it is elevated,
for easy access and surveillance," Ha told Formosa officials and reporters
on Thursday.
Ha's
comments suggest the government retains doubts despite tests that show Formosa,
a major investor leading the US$10.6 billion steel project, was not behind the
pollution.
Public
outrage was also evident on social media, the only real channel through which
Vietnamese get to vent in a country tightly controlled by the Communist Party.
In a
statement on Friday Ha admitted the government lacked experience in dealing
with disasters and had been slow to act. He called it a "very huge and
serious environment disaster".
The
government has banned sale and distribution of non-living aquatic products in
four affected provinces.
Its probe
said either toxic discharge caused by humans or "red tide", when
algae blooming at an abnormal rate produce toxins, may have killed the fish.
Facebook,
which is used by some 30 million Vietnamese, is seeing an outpouring of anger
directed at Formosa and criticism of the government's sluggish response.
Many used
the hashtag #toichonca, which means: "I choose fish".
The
hashtag emerged after a Taiwanese official at Formosa Ha Tinh said Vietnam had
to choose between "catching fish and shrimp and building a modern steel
industry". He later apologised.
In a
government letter issued on Friday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said
authorities had yet to find the cause, and acknowledged public concerns.
Vietnam's
seafood exports, which totalled US$6.6 billion last year, will not be hurt, the
industry's body said. Top buyers are the United States, Europe and Japan.
A
petition on the White House website is urging President Barack Obama to raise
the issue with Vietnam's leaders when he visits next month.
(Additional
reporting by My Pham; Editing by Martin Petty and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Reuters
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