On June 30, 2016, the General Directorate of Environment convened a meeting to implement the decision on inspecting the observance of environmental laws in Hau Giang province.

Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Tran Hong Ha stated that the violations discovered during inspections will be dealt with severely in accordance with the laws.

In May 2016, the Government Office released the Prime Minister’s instruction that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) and the Ha Tinh provincial People’s Committee report about the licensing and monitoring of the waste water discharge system at Formosa Ha Tinh. 

The Prime Minister, requesting to clarify the responsibilities of agencies and individuals, said they would be ‘strictly disciplined, with no exception for any organization and individual’.

Systematic errors

In 2009, the General Directorate of Environment released documents on guiding the compilation of reports on possible environmental impact caused by the steel complex and the water and pulp plant.

The ‘environmental impact assessment’ in the 2015 Environment Protection Law is defined as the analysis and prediction about the possible impact on the environment caused by investment projects. It aims to set forth measures to protect the environment.

As such, the environmental impact assessment is a tool for licensing agencies to ‘filter’ investment projects.

MONRE, which approved Formosa’s initial report on possible environmental impact in 2008, allowed Formosa to discharge treated waste water to the Quyen River, but directly to the sea.

However, later, on December 11, 2015, MONRE released a decision allowing Formosa to discharge waste water to the coastal waters at Son Duong Bay.

Analysts pointed out that the Quyen River and the coastal waters at Son Duong Bay have different self-cleaning capabilities, while the standards for treated waste water applied for the river and the coastal waters are different.

The 2015 Environment Law stipulates that project developers have to compile other reports on possible environmental impact if they don’t implement projects within 24 months after the previous reports were approved.

In the case of Lee & Man Vietnam, the initial report was approved by the Hau Giang provincial authorities in September 2008, but only in March 2015 did the investor start the construction of the plant. 

However, no agency discovered that the report had expired. And they did not ask Lee & Man to issue another report on possible environmental impact