Gravel mining in Changhua County will be banned to protect the region’s natural landscape, Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) said on Thursday.
Wei made the remarks while inspecting reforestation efforts at a mining site on Baguashan (八卦山), where gravel mining recently came to an end.
Wei described Baguashan, home to a colossal Buddha statue, as a “sacred mountain” and a major agricultural area of Changhua, adding that the ordinance would allow future generations to witness Changhua’s landscape in its full glory.
“Baguashan feeds the people of Changhua. We should not carry out unrestrained excavations on it. In order to pass on this land to our offspring, the Changhua County Government must do the right thing. We hereby announce that gravel mining will be banned,” he said.
Changhua County Department of Water Resources Director-General Lin Yu-hsiu (林裕修) said that the ordinance announced by Wei does not include the mining of gravel in river beds.
He said the county is the fifth area to introduce a gravel mining ban after Yilan, Hualien and Chiayi counties, as well as Kaohsiung.
He said that mining projects previously approved by the county totaled about 84 hectares, on which about 11.3 million cubic meters of gravel had been mined since 2003 — about 3 percent of the nation’s overall gravel supply.
Lin said that there are about 10 mining projects pending approval from the county government, which are unlikely to be approved due to the commissioner’s order.
He added that all mining operations approved by the county government were carried out on private land, as all forests on the Baguashan mountain range are classified as forests reserved for national defense, where mining is outlawed.
Council of Agriculture Forestry Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Hung-chih (楊宏志) rejected Lin’s comment, saying that small-scale mining is allowed in all types of national forests as long as it does not hamper national defense, soil and water conservation or forest conservation.
Other factors, such as whether wildlife habitats are present in or near the mining site and whether mining would degrade the quality of nearby water sources, are also taken into account when authorities review a mining application, he said.
He said that the Forestry Bureau has reservations regarding mining, as it could affect tectonic plates and dirt resulting from operations is often carelessly disposed of on vegetation, endangering its survival.
There are 2,500 hectares of national forests in the Baguashan Mountain range, and the bureau has not recorded any mining activities there, he added.
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