Is it a fraud for the Kaohsiung city government to promise to clean up the furnace ballast? Looking forward to only one second of happiness in seven years, a large amount of waste is still left in Qishan, with nowhere to go

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It has been nearly seven years since more than one million tons of converter stone and unidentified wastes have been buried in the forest in Qishan District, Kaohsiung City. Last month (March) 26, the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau finally took a crucial first step, together with one of the buried companies, the Wanda material Technology Company, publicly promised that "it will never just remove the converter stone, even if it is dug down more than 990000 tons today." everything will be cleared. "

Two weeks later, Wanda Company carried out its first clean-up work at 10: 00 a.m. on April 8. When the strange hand started, Zheng Miaozhen, president of the anti-furnace ballast self-rescue association in Dalinli, said with emotion, "We are looking forward to the shovel we have dug away." However, after an hour of on-site supervision, Zheng Miaozhen's dream was shattered.

She found that Wanda did not want to take away all the waste, but was only willing to carry the converter stone to the Dafa industrial zone in Daliao for temporary storage. She said bitterly, "just take the converter stone away and leave other unidentified wastes in the main landfill. Today, we are here to help the Environmental Protection Bureau endorse it. What book should we recite?" Books that have been beaten in the face, books that have been cheated. "

The pit, which is 2.5 meters wide, 8 meters long and about 1.3 meters high, is the first step in the burial site of the converter stone in Dalin, Qishan. (photography / Li Huiyi)

Qiu Yuxuan, a Kaohsiung city councilman who received urgent representations from the public, also rushed to the excavation site in Dalin on the afternoon of the 8th and demanded that the work be stopped immediately. She said, "I want to defend my constituency. I don't want secondary pollution, because I don't know what the operators will ship to Daliao."

The miserable background of the big forest farmers secretly buried unknown wastes with converter stones in the name of their products.

The disputed farmland is located in the Qishan forest section of the water quality and water quantity protection area in the upper reaches of Gaoping Creek. The soil is fertile and the water quality is clean, but it has a tragic life experience. The farmland was first stolen in 1996, digging potholes with a total area of 5.2 to 7 hectares and a depth of more than 20 meters, and in May 2013, 990000 tons of converter stone of Sinosteel and an incalculable amount of unknown waste were buried by unscrupulous operators.

Converter stone is a secondary product produced by China Iron and Steel Company in steelmaking. Zhonglian Resources is a subsidiary of Sinosteel, which is responsible for using converter stone for road construction, maritime or civil engineering. However, Zhonglian Resources did not sell these 990000 tons of converter stone as a "product". On the contrary, it sold it to Wanda at a low price of 5 yuan per ton and subsidized the clearing and transportation fee of 220 yuan per tonne. Wanda also sells it to the Construction and Development Company (which is also landlords) at 5 yuan per ton, and the subsidized freight is 40 yuan to 45 yuan per ton.

Zheng Miaozhen, president of the anti-waste furnace ballast self-rescue association in Dalinli, says that at the beginning, the industry did not just bury Sinosteel converter stone, because the converter stone had the name of "product" and could cover up illegally, so that the industry had the opportunity to sneak into other unknown wastes. Wang Zhongyi, president of the Zunhuai Culture and Education Foundation, said: "it is said on the table that there are 990000 tons, but there are more unknown or toxic wastes in the farmland."

The converter stone has been buried in farmland for nearly seven years. Can excavation dig out hope or despair? (photo / Li Huiyi) through the operator's clearance plan, the Environment Bureau promised to complete the clearance excavation within three years before it found that it was full of difficulties.

After nearly seven years of supervision, reporting, representations, and struggles, with the cooperation of non-governmental organizations such as the Da Lin Li Anti-waste Furnace and self-help Association, the Zunhuai Culture and Education Foundation, Tainan Social University, and the Earth Citizens Foundation, the forest farmers have finally come to life.

On March 26, 2020, the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau held a presentation with one of the companies, Wanda Company, and publicly promised to complete the clearance within three years. On April 8, Wanda Company chose the site 512 of Da Lin Section, which previously carried converter stone trucks, to carry out the first excavation.

On this day, Qishan people waited for a long time! In a joint interview with the media, Zheng Miaozhen, president of the anti-waste furnace and self-rescue association in Dalinli, said: "I am very touched, but I can only be happy for a second, because the supervision in the next three years is the most important." But Zheng Miaozhen never expected that she was really only happy for a second!

While supervising the work, Zheng Miaozhen found that Wanda did not carry away all the waste as promised by the Environmental Protection Bureau on the same day, but was only willing to carry out excavation and testing. The converter stone with no risk of test results was carried out to the Dafa Industrial Zone in Daliao for temporary storage.

The main backfill site of converter stone covers an area of more than five hectares, and there are great uncertainties. At present, operators have first excavated the external road used to carry converter stone trucks in the early stage, which is paved by converter stone. (photography / Li Huiyi)

Zheng Miaozhen complained bitterly to the staff of the Environmental Protection Bureau at the scene. "that day, the deputy director swore that all would be dug up, and we also memorized it very well, and so did the city councilman. You let Wanda (the company) only deal with converter stones and throw unidentified wastes to the perpetrators (Jianfa Company). Don't you know how scared we are of leaving the residents to face the problems themselves as before? "

The staff of the Environmental Protection Bureau appeased Zheng Miaozhen, "if you think differently, at least you are starting to clean it up. Our lawsuit has also been brought to the Supreme Court, and we are also fighting with them (Jianfa)." Alas! What we are worried about is, can we get in at Daliao? It's still a problem! "