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Qishan farmland slag cleanup stalls, residents angrily denounce operator's inaction

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Operator shamelessly shirks responsibility, Qishan farmland slag won't be cleared away, residents rage: "The suffering never ends!"

After nearly seven years of delay, the controversy over the "illegal burial of China Steel converter slag (hereinafter referred to as 'slag') in farmland" in Dalin Village, Qishan District, Kaohsiung City, saw a major development on March 21 of this year. The Environmental Protection Bureau approved Wanda Company's cleanup plan, which was expected to clear away nearly one million tons of farmland slag - the largest amount in history - within three years. (See here for background.) However, on the 22nd of this month, the Environmental Protection Bureau revoked the cleanup plan on the grounds that Wanda Company lacked cleanup capability. The very next day, it issued a press release stating that under Article 30 of the Waste Disposal Act, China United Resources Company is the source enterprise and should be responsible for the cleanup.

On October 26, China United Resources Company issued a press release in response, insisting that "converter slag is a legally registered product, and China United Resources Company is neither the actor nor the party responsible for removal in this case." In response, the Environmental Protection Bureau swiftly issued another press release with tough wording: "China United Resources is the producer of this batch of converter slag aggregate. Since the Wanda Company it commissioned committed the wrongful placement and wrongful use of backfill in farmland, China United Resources should bear joint and several responsibility for cleanup and environmental improvement."

After being buried for nearly seven years, the slag has finally "seen the light of day" for the first time, but residents never imagined the cleanup plan would still be forced to a halt. (Photo / Li Hui-yi)

Residents won their lawsuit against the government only to be toyed with; the suffering is endless and living in peace and contentment remains a distant dream

In May 2013, residents of Dalin Village noticed that trucks suddenly appeared in the village one after another, continuously dumping unidentified waste into a large pit on a 5.2-hectare, 22-meter-deep plot of farmland. Upon investigation, residents discovered that these were slag produced during the steelmaking process by China Steel Corporation, purchased from China United Resources by landowner Huang Yin-ling (head of Jianfa Construction) and Dai Wen-qing, head of Wanda Material Technology Company.

"They kept backfilling until June or July of 2014 - more than a full year - filling the entire plot of farmland to the brim." Even now, Zheng Miao-zhen still gets angry thinking about it.

Zheng Miao-zhen is the chairwoman of the Dalin Village Anti-Slag Self-Rescue Association. Every time there is a protest or petition, she leads the way, and she was once beaten because of this case. Now, seeing the government and the operator "talking past each other," she laments: "From the review and approval of the cleanup plan to the excavation and now its revocation, we residents feel like we're on an emotional roller coaster - happy one moment, disappointed the next. When will this kind of life ever end?"

The Kaohsiung Qishan Zunhuai Living Water Humanities Association, which has long assisted residents in monitoring this case, once filed a lawsuit with the High Administrative Court over administrative negligence by the Kaohsiung City Government. On May 31, 2017, the Kaohsiung High Administrative Court ruled that "the Waste Disposal Act should apply, and the competent authority has the obligation to order the actor to remove the waste."

Three years after the ruling, the Kaohsiung City Government first approved Wanda Company's cleanup plan and then revoked it. Zheng Miao-zhen said: "We clearly won our lawsuit against the government, yet we're still being toyed with and led around in circles. The words 'living in peace and contentment' are far too distant for us!"

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