The Ministry of Environment imposed a penalty surcharge of 176.1 billion won on HD Hyundai Oilbank for illegally discharging wastewater. It was confirmed that the company had long been discharging wastewater containing phenol without permission, and the ministry pointed out that it profited by avoiding an expense of approximately 45 billion won for expanding its wastewater treatment facility.
According to the Ministry of Environment on the 28th, HD Hyundai Oilbank sent wastewater exceeding the discharge standard (1.0 mg/L) to its subsidiary HD Hyundai OCI without passing through phenol prevention facilities from October 2019 to November 2021. From October 2016 to November 2021, it supplied untreated industrial water to its subsidiary HD Hyundai Chemical.
Phenol is a class 1 carcinogen that causes toxic symptoms upon skin absorption and induces pulmonary edema when inhaled. The Ministry of Environment noted that HD Hyundai Oilbank enjoyed cost-saving effects worth hundreds of millions of won by failing to properly handle phenol prevention.
In response, HD Hyundai Oilbank stated, "What was discharged outside the factory was not 'wastewater' but 'industrial water,'" and added, "To address the water shortage issues from the drought, we will remove impurities without treating wastewater and recycle it as industrial water in our subsidiary."
HD Hyundai Oilbank voluntarily reported its violations to the Ministry of Environment in January 2022, but illegal discharge was confirmed in prosecutorial investigations and court rulings.
In February this year, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced the former CEO to 1 year and 6 months in prison, among other current and former employees.
While the Ministry of Environment took the voluntary report and cooperation in the investigation into account when calculating the penalty surcharge, it considered the long-term threat to public health and safety as a serious issue. The penalty amount was calculated based on the severity and duration of the violations as well as the sales figures, and the final amount was confirmed after reflecting reduction factors. It also went through a review by the penalty surcharge review committee.
The penalty surcharge is calculated by summing the amount of violations, purification expenses, and reduction amounts. The penalty surcharge, initially notified as 150.9 billion won in January 2023, was ultimately determined to be 176.1 billion won.
The penalty surcharge system under the Environmental Crime Control Act was introduced in 2000. It is a punitive sanction that deprives illegal discharge profits.
A representative of HD Hyundai Oilbank said, "There were no discharges of pollutants to the outside during the industrial water recycling process," and added, "As the appeals process is still ongoing in court, we will do our best to clarify the facts through the appeals process to ensure there are no concerns or misunderstandings in the community."