The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday came under fire from lawmakers for failing to introduce an amendment to the Mining Act (礦業法) as they began a review of proposed revisions prompted by a public outcry over the mining industry’s effect on the environment.
“Lawmakers have been talking about amending the law since February and yet the ministry failed to send an amendment. It is so lazy,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), co-convenor of the Economics Committee, told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan committee.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said the ministry’s draft amendment is undergoing a 60-day public notice and so could not be sent to the Legislative Yuan yet.
The committee is to review a bill submitted by lawmakers article-by-article today and tomorrow, including a ceiling on the amount that can be mined, the extension length of mining rights and how to retroactively impose new regulations on companies.
The lawmakers are facing mounting pressure from the public to revise the law, triggered by protests over a 20-year extension given to Asia Cement Corp’s (亞泥) mining rights in eastern Taiwan.
The revision of the act would cover the operations of more than 250 quarries, the development of the nation’s cement industry, which generates NT$27 billion (US$889 million) in annual production value, and the interests of Aborigines whose traditional territories are within the scope of the quarries.
The act also involves long-term national land planning and utilization.
DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) proposed that when a company plans to apply for mining rights for a new or existing quarry, it must submit detailed plans for environmental restoration and labor placement in preparation for when it stops operations at the quarry.
The ministry should conduct strategic environmental assessments every five years to evaluate each quarry’s reserves, the supply and demand in domestic and international markets and environmental restoration efforts at quarries to provide updated information on the entire mining industry, not just cement companies, Hsiao said.
Lawmakers proposed that firms obtain approval from Aboriginal communities in accordance with Article 21 of the Indigenous Peoples Basic Law’s (原住民族基本法) when the scope of a quarry is within Aboriginal territory.
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is to be a requirement when applying for new or extended mining rights, the draft amendments states. For firms that have already received approval, such as Asia Cement, an EIA would have to be conducted once the amendment takes effect.
If the amendment passes, companies such as Asia Cement could see the government strip them of mining rights if their operations fail to pass an EIA, Yang said.
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