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 by Staff Writers Hanoi (AFP) Feb 22, 2017
Vietnam said Wednesday it will punish 11 senior officials for misconduct over a toxic waste dump last year that killed tonnes of fish in one of the country's worst environmental disasters. Taiwanese steel firm Formosa was blamed for the crisis that decimated livelihoods in coastal fishing communities in central Vietnam and was forced to pay $500 million in fines. Fishermen and activists in authoritarian Vietnam have staged rare protests since the disaster and filed lawsuits demanding a fair share of compensation. The 11 officials, which include a former environment minister and an ex-mayor, violated the law and mismanaged the crisis, according to a statement on the communist party's website. "The violations... are serious and need to be considered and punished," the statement said, without clarifying what penalties would be handed down. It said that environmental officials showed "a lack of responsibility in leadership, management and supervision," referring to the environmental assessment survey and the crisis aftermath. Tonnes of dead fish, including rare species that live far offshore, washed up along the coast after the toxic waste dump, sparking public outcry in the communist country. This month, a group of fishermen clashed with police in central Ha Tinh province as they tried to file lawsuits demanding compensation from Formosa. The Taiwanese firm is no stranger to controversy in Vietnam, where anti-China riots at its Ha Tinh steel plant killed three in 2014. The conglomerate has paid millions of dollars in fines over environmental mishaps elsewhere.
Tiny plastic particles from clothing, tyres clogging oceans: reportGeneva (AFP) Feb 21, 2017 Invisible particles washed off products like synthetic clothing and car tyres account for up to a third of the plastic polluting oceans, impacting eco-systems and human health, a top conservationist body warned Wednesday. Unlike the shocking images of country-sized garbage patches floating in the oceans, the microplastic particles that wash off textiles and roadways leave the waterways looki ... read more Related Links Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up 
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