Taipei, June 18 (CNA) The Kaohsiung City government will monitor a local refinery owned by the state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. to see that it stops discharging waste water on rainy days and may order it to suspend operations if it fails to stop the practice, city officials said Monday.

CPC's refinery in Kaohsiung has disregarded the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) punishment for discharging waste water on rainy days and a subsequent censure by the Control Yuan , said officials at a meeting on the disciplinary measures to be taken against the company.

Last year, the EPA accused the refinery of illegally discharging waste water containing carcinogens that might pollute the Houjin River, and the Control Yuan, the country's highest government watchdog, censured the company earlier in the year, saying that the refinery has recorded 55 such offenses over the past three years.

The government agencies' repeated warnings seemed to fall on the deaf ears of the refinery as it continued to discharge waster water on rainy days, claiming it was rainwater, officials said.

(By Chen Ja-fo and Scully Hsiao)
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