Agencies disagree on how to punish leather firm for waste discharging Hao Duong, a leather processing company in HCM City was caught discharging untreated waste water to the Dong Dien River one week ago. It is still unclear about how to punish it.    The HCM City Industrial Zone and Export Processing Zone Management Board (Hepza), in its report to the HCM City People’s Committee about the case, proposed to stop the operation of the company for its repeated behavior of discharging untreated waste water to the environment. This was for the sixth time Hao Duong violated the environment laws over the last 15 months, according to Hepza. It has also asked the city authorities to instruct the city’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment to revoke the license on the Dong Dien River water exploitation granted before to Hao Duong. In August 2012, Hepza, when examining the industrial zone’s operation in the environment, investment, businesses, construction and labor, discovered that Hao Duong violated the laws in nearly all the five sectors. The company was found as having four behaviors of violating the environment laws. It discharged the waste water 22.3 times higher than the allowed level, exhaust fumes by 13.7 times. It was also caught discharging waste water into the raining water system. Hepza then asked the HCM City People’s Committee to impose the fine of VND340 million on Hao Duong. In August 2012, Hepza proposed to stop the operation of Hao Duong Company. However, the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment proposed not to do that. In its report submitted to the HCM City people’s committee dated November 8, 2012, the department said the department did not think it was necessary to stop the operation of the company. “Hao Duong repeatedly violated the environment laws, but this only happened in the time before September 2010. After that, the company has signed a contract on waste water treatment with the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone,” the report read. Also according to the report, though the company discharged the substandard waste water, it did not pollute the environment, because the waste water then went to the industrial zone’s concentrated waste water treatment and did not go directly to the environment. “In case Hao Duong deliberately discharged waste water directly to the environment, Hepza needs to work out with the local electricity company to stop providing electricity to the company,” the report read. When asked by Phap luat Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh newspaper when the environment department and Hepza keep different viewpoints about how to deal with Hao Duong, the department’s director Dao Anh Kiet simply said the case needs to be dealt with in accordance with the laws. Kiet went on to say that he had a working session with Hao Duong where the company’s representative said it did not deliberately discharge waste water to the river. In the latest news, Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon has quoted Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Bui Cach Tuyen as saying that Hao Duong needs to be forced to shut down after it committed a series of violations and defied the laws. The discharged water mostly went from the tanning workshop of the company, about 600-1,000 cubic meters per day. Compiled by C. V, VietNamNet Bridge