The government’s interpretation of the Mining Act (礦業法) should be revised to require environmental reviews based on the full extent of tunneling, environmental groups said yesterday, criticizing the government for only requiring an environmental review based on the size of above-ground operations.
“Under the Bureau of Mines’ interpretation [of the act], no matter how large the underground portion of a mine is, the only part that has to win approval is the entrance to the mine,” Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan researcher Pan Cheng-cheng (潘正正) said.
Pan criticized the bureau for attempting to approve a Hualien County mine’s transition to tunnel mining without first requiring that it pass an environmental review.
Lingying Mining Co’s marble mine in Sioulin Township (秀林) was previously an open-pit mine, but it has switched to tunneling following the exhaustion of surface deposits.
“Under the bureau’s interpretation, almost all of the nation’s shaft mines are not obliged to undergo any kind of environmental review,” Pan said, citing rules requiring an environmental review when the “approved mining area” exceeds 2 to 5 hectares depending on the topography.
“The problem is that the actual land area being used is not just limited to the portion above ground,” she said, “How can one say that the area that is below ground is not subject to safety or environmental reviews.”
Of the nation’s 186 active mines, only 25 have actually undergone an environmental review under grandfathering rules for mines that began operations prior to the passage of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法).
Pan estimated that an additional 20 mines would have been obliged to undergo environmental reviews if the “approved mining area” was interpreted as including underground tunnels.
She demanded that grandfathered mines be required to undergo an environmental review when their permits expire, rather than having their permits extended automatically.
“Aborigines’ right of consent continues to be ignored and even though the Executive Yuan has proposed decriminalizing mining by Aborigines on their own land, it has yet to implement a system for the common management of resources mandated by the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法),” said New Power Party Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, an Amis Aborigine.
She called for Aborigines to be granted a veto during the approval process for mines.
The nation’s mineral deposits are considered state-owned, with affected land owners entitled only to compensation for the use of surface land.
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