Spring 2001
Toxic Tour of green SIlicon Island: Uncovering Problems and Promise in Taiwan
Clusters of high-tech companies. Groundwater pollution. Workers sick, dead or suffering from cancer, miscarriages. Community organizing to protect community health and to urge companies to develop pollution prevention practices. Communities engaging in dialogue with companies and government officials, debating the premise that a healthy economy doesn’t have to — and shouldn’t — come at the expense of a healthy environment or a safe workplace. It’s not just happening in Silicon Valley, CA. Increasingly throughout the world, communities are organizing to protect community, worker and environmental health—Silicon Mesa (New Mexico); Silicon Glen (Scotland); and Green Silicon Island (Taiwan), to name a few.
In March, we had the privilege to travel to Taiwan to learn about the impacts of high-tech development on this small but dynamic high-tech island and to share our own experiences. We learned a lot about both the problems and the promise percolating throughout Taiwan. The Taiwanese Environmental Action Network (TEAN) and community groups in Taiwan hosted this trip and introduced us to an incredible array of people, places and pollution--and hopes for the future.
Although we have been keenly aware of the impacts of high-tech development globally, we learned much more after reading a recent research paper written by TEAN. This excellent report— entitled “A Study of the Environmental and Social Aspects of Taiwanese and U.S. Companies in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park” — documents many of the particular environmental problems in Taiwan. Last winter, TEAN members Wen-Ling Tu and Lily Hseuh (a new SVTC Board Member) approached SVTC about organizing an exposure trip to Taiwan. During the past two months, we assembled our own Toxics Tour Team (SVTC Director Ted Smith, SVTC Communications Director Leslie Byster, and John Rosenblum of Rosenblum Environmental Engineering,a consultants on high-tech wastewater management) to work with Lily and Wen-Ling on this trip. We also arranged to patch in well-respected Reinhard Hanselka of the Pipe Trades Training Center via satellite TV to address an important symposium.
During our one week trip, we visited the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park (HSIP) and the Tainan Science-Based Industrial Park (TSIP); we met with members of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association; environmental engineers, administrators and environmental health and safety staff from several high-tech companies; key governmental representatives-including the Mayors of both Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County and their environmental staff, the Secretary-General of the Democratic Progressive Party; and high-ranking officials at the Department of Labor and the Legislature. We also spoke at a well-attended symposium, and several press conferences.
We experienced some of our most poignant moments while on toxic tours of Hsinchu, Tainan, and Kaoshiung which took us to “fenceline” communities affected by toxic contamination (including a Presbyterian Bible College and a Franciscan nunnery; contaminated streams and creeks; incinerators; wastewater treatment plants; sludge farms; and the Koaping River, which was the site of recent illegal dumping of toxics. We spoke with many community groups in Hsinchu, Tainan, and Meinung, as well as workers and their advocates who have been poisoned while working at high-tech plants in Taiwan (RCA, Philips, etc.).
One of the biggest surprises of our visit was learning that the wastewater treatment technologies at several of the semiconductor plants we visited are in some ways more advanced than those at companies here in Silicon Valley. For instance, we were impressed with the waste water recycling we saw at a Macronix fab, which is currently re-using between 50% - 70% of its waste water. The Taiwanese EPA has stated that they expect new fabs to recycle 85% of waste water, due to serious water shortages on the island.
On the other hand, we became painfully aware that many of the health protective laws and regulations we have in place in the US (Right-to-Know, permitting regulations— like the Toxic Gas Ordinance, the Hazardous Materials Storage Ordinance, and the requirement of a 1000 foot buffer between industry developments and residential areas do not exist in Taiwan. Other laws which are on the books are not aggressively enforced. This was particularly apparent near the Hsinchu industrial park where people live literally only a few feet away from the high-tech plants and have been complaining bitterly about the air, water and noise pollution. It doesn’t help that Taiwan is the 2nd most densely populated country in the world! The recent discovery that important oyster beds near the waste water discharge have been poisoned by arsenic - an essential ingredient in semiconductor manufacturing — has increased people’s level of concern.
We ended our tour with a “signing ceremony” on March 30 of a document to commemorate our new friendships. It is an agreement between SVTC and environmental NGOs in Taiwan to cooperate in building trust and working for a sustainable high-tech environment. The document recognizes that SVTC has pioneered in developing several models that they can learn from, including monitoring, transparency, using the internet to communicate, and cooperation with other groups to share information and experiences.
We were impressed by the deep level of commitment and organizing undertaken by community activists in Taiwan. Crystal Chung, Sam Lin, Professor Huang, Chin Bo Kao, Yu-Ling Ku, George Cheng, members of the Meinung People’s Association, the TEPU in Meinung, the Blue Tungkang River Association, and many others were inspirations to us. They all deepened our resolve to strengthen the International Campaign for Responsible Technology and our work to ensure that high-tech development doesn’t adversely impact community, worker, environmental or economic health anywhere.
Leslie Byster is SVTC Communications Director. Ted Smith is SVTC Executive Director.
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