Asia Cement Corp and other mining companies that did not undergo an environmental review when their licenses came up for renewal are to be subject to environmental reviews following the revision of the Mining Act (礦業法), the Cabinet said yesterday.
Asia Cement gained permission for its mining operations in Hualien County 60 years ago, when there were no environmental review systems or environmental laws, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
The Cabinet is to submit a draft amendment to the Mining Act to require mining firms to make up for the environmental impact assessments they did not face because their mining projects were approved decades ago without such reviews, he said.
“They will not be redoing the environmental review, but making up for the review they missed because they have never been subject to one,” Hsu said.
Seventy to 80 mining projects will be required to face make-up reviews, he said.
The Cabinet’s action was prompted by increased public concern about mining practices following the death of documentary filmmaker Chi Po-lin (齊柏林) in a helicopter crash on Saturday last week, he said.
In his work, Chi had documented the mining operations of Asia Cement and a petition calling on the government to withdraw its renewal of Asia Cement’s mining license has collected more than 150,000 signatures in the wake of his death.
The draft amendment is to be listed as a priority bill in the next legislative session, which begins in September, as it could not be squeezed into the agenda of the extraordinary legislative session that began yesterday.
However, mining firms are allowed to continue operations during the review process, because they have already secured mining permits, Hsu said.
The National Park Act (國家公園法) was passed in 1972, Toroko National Park was established in November 1986 and the Environmental Protection Administration was established in August 1987.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS