Mining Act Not Scheduled for Extraordinary Session; Environmental Groups Condemn Amendment Efforts as Futile, Say DPP Bears Unshirkable Responsibility
The once-controversial amendment to the Mining Act, under the precondition that the Labor Standards Act was to be reviewed first, was not placed on the legislative yuan's extraordinary session agenda and must wait until the next session before it can be "amended fully and completely." In response, the Citizens of the Earth Foundation pointed directly at the culprit: the Democratic Progressive Party, which kept postponing the start time of meetings and used the excuse of not having time to change the agenda to stall. Even if it promises to carefully schedule and review the bill in the next session, it must set a definite timetable, lest it repeat the same mistake again and let mining reform become a fraud.
Chi Po-lin's death sparks public anger; mining reform becomes a national consensus
Since last March, when the Ministry of Economic Affairs swiftly approved a 20-year extension for Asia Cement, and in June, when director Chi Po-lin passed away, revealing that Asia Cement had been continuously mining in the mountains of Hualien, public anger erupted. The "mining reform" petition surpassed 210,000 signatures and at one point became a national consensus. But after the Executive Yuan version of the Mining Act was released, it was attacked from many sides. In response, the Citizens of the Earth Foundation criticized at last year's press conference that several major amendment directions - including deleting unreasonable overbearing clauses, strengthening environmental protection and management measures, safeguarding fishermen's rights, and opening up public participation in oversight and feedback mechanisms for operators - were almost "all four empty."
Afterward, as various versions were released one after another, the long-delayed amendment to the Mining Act finally entered legislative review last December. Even though not many articles were passed, on the key core issues, a certain consensus had been established among the parties, including establishing a system of fair and healthy competition between new and old mines, and balancing human rights, the environment, industry and safety. The Ministry of Economic Affairs also promised that when old mines have their mining rights extended, they must submit a mine closure plan and consent forms from landowners and users.
Citizens of the Earth: By postponing meeting times and leaving no time to change the agenda, the DPP used delaying tactics to block the amendment
Even so, the amendment to the Mining Act came to an abrupt halt through technical obstruction. Citizens of the Earth pointed out that the DPP caucus began to intervene at the end of the session, using methods such as postponing the start time of meetings and leaving no time to change the agenda to technically block the Economics Committee from discussing the Mining Act bill. Moreover, last Friday (12/29) it was confirmed that the extraordinary session agenda would not include the Mining Act or the Air Pollution Control Act, and a resolution was passed to force a third reading of the Labor Standards Act before January 8, so that the Labor Standards Act, which cut in midway, effectively compressed the amendment space for the Mining Act.
In response, DPP caucus secretary-general Ho Hsin-chun explained that the Mining Act would be prioritized for review in the next session because committee members had many opinions within the committee, and the caucus believed more time should be given for discussion. In order not to waste prior efforts, the next session would carefully evaluate and send it on to second and third readings.
Overbearing clauses passed during the DPP era; responsibility for reform cannot be shirked
In response to the DPP's reply, Citizens of the Earth reminded that mining amendment is a historical responsibility the DPP must shoulder, because the two major overbearing clauses tilted toward mining operators - "Article 31: if a permit is rejected, the competent authority must be responsible for compensation" and "Article 46: operators may begin mining without obtaining the consent of the landowner" - were both passed in the Legislative Yuan in 2003 through the Executive Yuan version proposed by the DPP government. Therefore, the DPP government absolutely cannot shirk responsibility.
"Mining amendment cannot stop here." Citizens of the Earth stressed that in order to keep mining reform from becoming a fraud, it called on the DPP to publish a specific timetable for the amendment and to ensure that the Mining Act amendment balances human rights, the environment, industry and safety, achieving true reform.