Tougher penalties proposed for illegal dumping at sea

THE Environmental Protection Department is proposing tough new marine dumping measures - including a 10,000 per cent increase in penalties for violation of the outdated Dumping At Sea Ordinance (DASO).

Plans for the new regulations have already been presented to Legislative Councillors, but the EPD has taken a tougher stance, pushing for a record $100,000 fine against a company convicted of illegal dumping.

The EPD proposes penalties of up to $500,000 and two years in jail for repeat offenders of harbour dumping ordinances. Current codes, modelled on old United Kingdom marine dumping measures, limit penalties to $5,000 fines.

However, EPD critics claim the measures are long overdue and will be ineffective, since reclamation and dumping by the world's largest dredging fleet has already irrevocably altered the harbour.

''For major contractors, the fines for years have been a joke. They clearly served no deterrent at all,'' said Lisa Hopkinson of Friends of the Earth.

Aside from fines against Universal Dockyard, penalties for those convicted of illegal dumping have been held to $5,000. Universal, among the world's largest marine engineering firms and a major airport contractor, was fined $100,000 in April for dumpingviolations dating back to March 1992 - the 13th time it had been penalised.

A Sunday Morning Post investigation of DASO enforcement revealed a pattern of light penalties, even for repeated violators. Last year, Luen Cheong Tai Construction Company of Sha Tin was convicted of dumping 750 cubic metres of mud near Cheung Chau in violation of licence conditions.

The company was fined $200.

Fanta Construction Company was a regular visitor to court last year, and was given reduced penalties for repeat violations. After paying $5,000 fines early in the year, the company was fined $4,000 for its fourth DASO conviction last August, then $4,000 for a fifth offence in October.

Fanta had earlier been in the news over charges of bribes offered to an EPA official. Yip Wai-Keung pleaded guilty in March 1992 to two counts of offering $20,000 to another EPA officer to solicit special treatment for Fanta's dumping licences.

And the Universal and Fanta cases are not isolated. Contai Engineering Company of Kowloon Bay has been fined seven times for DASO violations. Given that dump sites are often four hours by slow barge from construction sites, many companies saw greater profit in disobeying the law and paying the fines.

''The fines are ridiculous,''' said a local environmentalist. ''They don't represent enough of a penalty to force anyone to even bother with obeying the law.'' Paul Holmes, the EPD's Principal Environmental Protection Officer, countered criticism that the stiffer penalties amounted to a case of too little, too late. ''We've accomplished a great deal in a short time,'' he said of the EPD, which has nearly tripled its staff since forming in 1986.

Mr Holmes pointed to the EPD record. Although there have been three DASO matters in court this year, all relate to 1993 violations. There have been no DASO charges at all this year.

The success, said Senior Environmental Officer Yuen Po Hung, was a mixture of of enforcement and education. ''We work closely with the 200 licensed barge owners to ensure compliance with the codes. But we also show them that we are serious about obeying the law,'' he said.