914 Action environmental group protests reservoir catchment development
On the eve of the 14th anniversary of the 921 earthquake, and just as Typhoon Morakot's aftermath reached its fourth full year, dozens of environmental group representatives and hundreds of citizens gathered in front of the Ministry of the Interior today to protest and perform an action drama. They demanded that development restrictions in reservoir catchment areas must not be loosened. Facing severe reservoir siltation and eutrophication of water quality, along with harm to Indigenous rights, Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan should show the professional conscience and responsibility of a water resources expert, withdraw the improperly revised "National Regional Plan Draft," and oppose the amendment of the Soil and Water Conservation Act; the Environmental Protection Administration should also withdraw its revision of environmental impact assessment items.
The protest groups argued that Taiwan's land is already quite fragile, and the government must not let reservoirs turn into soil reservoirs, allowing water resources to run dry with nothing left to drink, still less sell out Indigenous rights. Legislators Liu Chien-kuo and Tian Chiu-chin, along with the office director of Wei Ming-ku, also came to show concern. After protesting at the Ministry of the Interior, the environmental groups also went in front of the Executive Yuan to express their position and issue a statement.
The statement reads as follows:
1. Regarding the "National Regional Plan Draft" and the revised version of the Soil and Water Conservation Act, which bear on the nation's sustainability, neither the Ministry of the Interior nor the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau of the Council of Agriculture held public hearings before approval, clearly violating administrative procedure and information disclosure.
2. The "National Regional Plan Draft" and the revised version of the Soil and Water Conservation Act greatly loosen development restrictions in reservoir catchment areas. At a time of global climate change and increasingly frequent extreme rainstorms in Taiwan, and with many reservoirs severely silted up, reservoirs are close to becoming soil reservoirs and nearing death. Taiwan is not far from a predicament of having no water available. Therefore, restrictions on development in reservoir catchment areas should be tightened. Regrettably, the Ministry of the Interior and the Council of Agriculture today did the opposite and greatly loosened development restrictions. The environmental groups protest that development must not be loosened.
3. The "National Regional Plan Draft" also loosens the leasing and sale of state-owned land in reservoir catchment areas, and loosens development restrictions in drinking water protection areas and tap water protection areas. The environmental groups demand that these not be loosened.
4. The "National Regional Plan Draft" sells out Indigenous rights. It deletes the provision that the management and operation of Indigenous reserved land should still give priority to the "Regulations on the Development and Management of Indigenous Reserved Land," and will also leave Indigenous peoples with nowhere to live. The environmental groups and Indigenous peoples demand that the revision be deleted.
5. The "National Regional Plan Draft" will loosen the establishment of industrial parks of 10 hectares or more on Class D building land in non-industrial zones. It also loosens the requirement that areas of 10 hectares or more need not be submitted to the Regional Plan Committee of the Ministry of the Interior for review, and further loosens and simplifies review of small industrial parks. In this way it will greatly turn back the clock, and industrial wastewater will more easily pollute nearby land and irrigation water. In addition, the strategic environmental assessment of urban planning policy will also be changed to review by local governments themselves, which will more easily lead to black-box operations.
6. Oppose amending Article 16 of the Soil and Water Conservation Act. Because the original provision required that all reservoir catchment areas be designated as "specially designated soil and water conservation areas," after the amendment it will be narrowed so that only reservoir catchment areas with potential debris-flow streams, landslide sites, and other areas "requiring special protection" need to be designated. In this way, 83%, more than 1.72 million hectares of land, would be released for development.
7. Oppose amending Article 19 of the Soil and Water Conservation Act. After the amendment, the entire section on "key points for formulating long-term soil and water conservation plans" will be deleted. Originally, all development activities were prohibited within the area, but it would be changed to prohibit only four categories of activities, with all others not prohibited.
8. Oppose amending Article 20 of the Soil and Water Conservation Act, and oppose deleting the protection belt for reservoir catchment areas designated as specially designated soil and water conservation areas; oppose amending Article 17, and oppose giving local governments the power to abolish specially designated soil and water conservation areas.
The environmental groups oppose the loosening of development that damages reservoir catchment areas, and also oppose the loosening of development for improper use of national land for industry. Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan, as a water resources expert, today nevertheless put forward bad laws that damage national land and cause depletion of water resources, along with an improper national regional plan. The environmental groups demand that the Ministry of the Interior withdraw the "National Regional Plan Draft," demand that the Executive Yuan withdraw the bill to amend the Soil and Water Conservation Act, and demand that the Environmental Protection Administration withdraw its revision of environmental impact assessment items. Only after the Ministry of Environment and Resources is established should there be a comprehensive review, and before any revision a strategic environmental assessment should first be conducted.
The groups organizing today's event are: Taiwan Water Resources Conservation Alliance, Taiwan Ecological Society, Taiwan Tree Protection Groups Alliance, Danhai Phase II Anti-Expropriation Self-Rescue Alliance, Healthy Mothers and Grandmothers Group, Changhua Medical Alliance, and Tainan City Community University Research and Development Association.
Action and supporting groups: Taiwan Ecological Society, Taiwan Water Resources Conservation Alliance, Tainan City Community University Research and Development Association, Changhua Medical Alliance, Tainan Environmental Protection Alliance, Taiwan Tree Protection Groups Alliance, Jiangcui Tree Protection Volunteer Team, Danhai Phase II Anti-Expropriation Self-Rescue Alliance, Healthy Mothers and Grandmothers Group, Watch Taiwan, Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation, Green Line, Taiwan Environmental Protection Alliance, Anti-Danbei Road Alliance, Flood Control Supervision Alliance, Save Linkou Forest Action Alliance, Xindian Bitan Tree Protection Volunteer Team, Shuanghe Tree Protection Alliance, Caoshan Ecological and Cultural History Alliance, Ocean Taiwan Cultural and Educational Foundation, Tainan City Water Resources Conservation Alliance, Yunlin Environmental Protection Alliance, Neihu Conservation Area Guardian Alliance, Pingtung Environmental Protection Alliance, Tamsui Historical Fieldwork Studio, Pingtung County Education Industry Union Ecology Center, Pingtung County Teachers' Association Ecology Education Center, Kaohsiung City Chaishan Association, Changhua County Environmental Protection Alliance, Taoyuan County Environmental Protection Association, Kaohsiung Green Association, Southern Water Alliance, Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society, Fengyi Shuangcheng Old Trail Text Studio, Taoyuan Local Alliance, Thousand-Mile Trail, Tainan City Environmental Protection Alliance, Hongya Study, Chinese Wild Bird Federation, Taipei Wild Bird Society, Yunlin County Shallow Sea Aquaculture Association, Citizens of the Earth Foundation, Hualien Environmental Protection Alliance, Yunlin County Wild Bird Society, Kaohsiung City Dagangshan Humanities Association, Taiwan Literature Front, Wilderness Protection Association, Taiwan Southern International Exchange Platform.