THE Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) recently issued a notice of violation to Wan Chiong Steel Corporation for alleged non-compliance to environmental laws.
Raldy Pagador, EMB Central Luzon Engineer IV. said the notice of violation stemmed from the steel plant’s continued operation despite one of its bag house being defective, thus causing air pollution.
“We conducted an inspection last week at Wan Chiong Steel Corporation and we saw that its Bag House 2 was defective. In such cases, furnaces that are served by the defective bag house must not be operational but it was very clear in our inspection that they defied the measure,” Pagador said.
Without a bag house, Pagador explained that a furnace would emit a bigger volume and darker color of smoke which would cause air pollution and may be a risk to employees and people within the vicinity.
“During our inspection at the plant, the smoke and dust emitted by the furnace is very thick which is a clear violation of the RA 8749 or the Philippine Clean Air Act,” he said.
Pagador said that Wan Chiong Steel Corporation’s failure to comply with the environmental laws would result in EMB’s issuance of a cease and desist order against them.
It could be remembered that the operation of the same steel plant was also suspended by the Department of Trade and Industry’s Fair Trade and Enforcement Bureau (DTI-FTEB) recently for alleged selling of substandard steel bars and rerolls.
The DTI-FTEB is also looking into the revocation of steel plant’s Philippine Standard License if they fail to comply with the agency’s requirements.
Sun.Star Pampanga tried to reach Wan Chiong Steel Corporation for comments, but their representatives were unavailable Wednesday, January 30.