Pollution crisis in Kunyu Landfill "500 hectares around Miaoli Organic Pumpkin Village may suffer, and the villagers are camped out in the cold wind.

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The invasion of the waste landfill threatened Longchuan Village, where the bridge was built in Miaoli! In this organic village, which is famous for its pumpkin festival and is at peace with the rest of the world, the fertile land depends entirely on the irrigation reserve pool of the Mingde Reservoir, but now a big hole has been dug nearby and more than 8,000 metric tons of waste will be buried. Not only the whole village will suffer, but even the surrounding area of 500 hectares will be polluted.

The case of Kunyu career waste landfill was originally stillborn 16 years ago, when it was rejected by the then county magistrate Liu Zhenghong and his license was revoked. Now the Miaoli county government has made a comeback. It took only 10 days for the Miaoli county government to quickly pass the trial operation plan, and did not inform the villagers. This triggered hundreds of villagers in Longyi Village to form a self-rescue meeting to protest, but Kunyu Company proposed to tell them that the crowd was so angry that they decided to stay at the gate of the landfill to fight the Anti-Japanese War. Vowed to protect the homeland.

Despite the cold spell, they said angrily, "A case has plagued my village for nearly 20 years, and I won't even have a good Spring Festival this year."

Longyi villagers gathered in front of the burial site to protest against the destruction of our home by waste. (photography / Li Hankai) the development consent form was obtained by deception 16 years ago, and the license of Kunyu Company was revoked.

In 1990, Kunyu bought more than 10 hectares of land for the landfill site, but in order to avoid the requirement of environmental assessment for more than 2 hectares of landfills that year, it only applied for a 1.9-hectare landfill plan. When it was proposed for trial operation in 1994, two batches of waste were buried. It was only because of the stench that the residents knew that something was wrong and immediately gathered in protest.

Kun Yu pointed out that the burial began only with the consent of the residents, and they took out the stamped consent form before the villagers knew that they had been cheated. It turned out that Kun Yu had hired dozens of villagers to assist in development on the grounds of lack of work. By pulling a few survey lines and digging a few holes, he could get a few thousand yuan. They thought that the purpose of stamping the seal was to get a salary, but it was unexpectedly a "development consent form".

The deceived and angry villagers took the case to court, and Liu Zhenghong, the new county magistrate at that time, thought that the case had caused great damage to Miaoli, so he rejected it several times in a row. The manufacturer refused to accept the punishment and went to the central government to petition, but the Environmental Protection Agency's Appeal Committee revoked the rejection, and Liu Zhenghong used the resolution as a basis to revoke Kun Yu's license.

The nightmare was repeated, and the county government passed the trial after only 10 days, and the villagers protested against the defendant.

Sixteen years later, the villagers did not expect that the Kunyu career waste landfill would restart the trial operation plan on December 21, 2020. The Miaoli County government did not notify the rights and interests related parties. Only 10 days after the examination, it was agreed that Kunyu Company could dispose of 8223.7 metric tons of waste within 90 days from the date of publication. If the environmental monitoring project is tested after the trial operation, the business license will be obtained.

As soon as the news came out, there was an uproar, and the villagers of Longyi Village held a press conference with Liu Zhenghong, the former county magistrate, to protest against Kun Yu's actions. Unexpectedly, Kun Yu refused to communicate and made embezzlement and compulsory accusations to the five people who attended the press conference, suspected of using litigation as a deterrent tool.

Liu Zhenghong, who has retired from politics, continues to stand with Longyi Village. "the situation is obviously the same, but the application is approved in ten days, making it impossible for the villagers to live comfortably." Liu Zhenghong said, "when the county magistrate Xu made such a decision, I said impolitely that it was harmful to his son and grandson."

Liu Zhenghong called on Xu Yaochang not to do harm to his son and grandson. (photo / Li Hankai) the landfill site is less than one kilometer from the fertile field irrigation pond, which is afraid of polluting the water source farmland.

106.5 kilometers from the Taiwan 1 line, directly opposite the Datan Scenic spot, two simple tents and two 20-foot containers are the base of the "Anti-Kun Yu career waste Landfill self-help Society" and the entrance to the Kunyu Landfill. Hundreds of people will be burying pots and cooking here, and yesterday (21) was the 16th day.

Three shifts a day, 24 hours a day, for their own home.

The three women on the middle shift (16:00 to 24:00) last night arrived at the scene as soon as they got off work. They boiled instant noodles in a simple cassette stove to satisfy everyone's hunger. Although the temperature warmed up that day, it was still so cold after nightfall that it was hard to imagine how they survived the winter night when the temperature was as low as single digits.

Under the tent, three old men, who add up to more than 200 years old, gather around the stove to keep warm. A few sweet potatoes on the stove are the specialties of Longqi Village. This organic village, which produces sweet potatoes, pumpkins and bottle gourds, irrigates fertile fields by big pools. Datan is the irrigation reserve pool of the Mingde Reservoir. Five hundred fertile fields nearby, including the specific agricultural areas of Wanbao, are irrigated by Datan. The problem is that Kun Yu's landfill site is not only located at the highest point of Longyi Village, but also affects the quality of groundwater, and it is also less than a kilometer away from the Great Tan. No wonder residents should make concerted efforts to protect their homes despite the cold.

The residents of Longyi Village braved the cold and vowed to protect their homes to the death. (photo / Yang Yuyun) the landfill has plagued Longyi Village for more than ten years, and it won't be a good year this year.

Chen Baixian, a volunteer of the self-help Association, is a young man returning to his hometown. While helping his family with farming, he works in the Fuli Community of Miaoli County as a breeding center. He said that during the struggle against Kun Yu more than a decade ago, his father was at the forefront of the protest, but he did not expect that after so many years, he had to take over the baton and run.

"when the trial operation was passed, a copy of the official document was not given to us, and no one informed us. Had it not been told by a county councilor who was friendly to us, we would still be kept in the dark." Chen Baixian questioned that they were obviously important people, but they were not respected at all. "A case has plagued my village for nearly 20 years. I can't even spend the Spring Festival this year. The pace of life in our whole village has been disrupted."

Kun Yu bribed at the same time? But completely refused to communicate.

At the press conference on January 5, five people were stolen and forcibly told by Kun Yu. When Kun Yu tried to carry equipment into the venue on January 12, several villagers who were blocked were also told. After the villagers' representative Gu Yuzhi made a statement at the police station yesterday afternoon, he immediately returned to the base of the self-help Association. He said that Kun Yu's goal is to ask the villagers to back down in the face of difficulties. "as long as we continue to fight, we will not be able to run the court." When Gu Yuzhi finished, another member of the self-help Association added, "I heard that Kun Yu has seven lawyers, so they can afford to play this trick."

Under the whip and carrots, Chen Ching-hsin, president of the self-help Association, pointed out that there were rumors that Kun Yu would provide feedback money to the residents. "We will never accept this practice of bribing the villagers." In the 20 years since he bought land in 1990, Kun Yu has not even communicated with the public once. Chen Qingxin asks, if everything is legal, why use these means?

The villagers joined forces to stop the strange hands from entering the landfill. (courtesy of Chen Baixian) the reporter made a direct attack on the landfill equipment in Yangchun, and the procedure for changing the landscapes is suspicious.

The official document in which the county government agreed to trial operation pointed out that the types of waste included waste plastic, civil construction waste, sludge, slag and furnace stone, and scrap metal. Even if Kun Yu declared that they were all non-toxic waste, the villagers of Longli questioned that if it were just general waste, it would be better to bury it on the spot. Is it necessary to transport it all the way from Pingtung and Kaohsiung to Miaoli?.

Chen Wu Manyu, head of Longyi Village, told that at present, the road from the entrance to the landfill is actually private land, but if it is on Kun Yu's head, the development area will be more than 2 hectares, which must be assessed. For this reason, Kun Yu could only insist that it was an "existing road", so he could not stop the villagers from entering. As a matter of fact, they also said at the door: "villagers' supervision is welcome."

However, if the "upstream and downstream" reporter wanted to enter, Kun Yu, citing "valuable machinery", must be accompanied by the manager surnamed Shen. Walk only 200 meters, that is to see a huge pothole in front of the chain, hanging "do not trespass". Across the chain, it is visually observed that the potholes are about four or five basketball courts and two or three stories deep, and the periphery is only covered with tarpaulins, without any sewage treatment pipelines. However, there are natural mountains and forests all around. Chen Qizhong, director general of the self-help Association, says that the original land is agricultural, animal husbandry and woodland, but it has been changed to land for a specific purpose.

In the face of this extremely sunny landfill, the reporter asked Manager Shen, will any treatment be done after the waste is dumped in the future? When will the location be changed? But he only said: no response.