"Why is it that operators have been mining in the farmlands of the Chingshui River for years, and have never undertaken protection of the land or water according to the mining safety law, and yet the Provincial Bureau of Mines, which is the oversight body here, hasn't done anything about it?"

Upon hearing this complaint from people in Yuli Township, Huang Ta-pang, director of the Eastern Regional Office of the Provincial Bureau of Mines (PBM), immediately responds that in the past the PBM has certainly demanded that the operators improve, but the serpentine mines in the Chingshui farmland do not have holdings as rich and extensive as those like the marble quarries in the Hoping area of Hualien in eastern Taiwan. The investor operators are mainly family-type, small-capital operations.

Moreover, products mined or gathered using explosives, drilling and digging have more fissures, the colors are not uniform and the quality is low, so the prices are also inferior. Besides, most of the rock gets smashed and lost, so that only ten or twenty percent is actually worth keeping. The operators also mostly lack their own manufacturing and processing plants, and sell the stones to processing plants in Hualien, and prices are often undermined, so to speak, by the larger producers, so that profits are very low. Today mining has already become a "sunset industry."

Unstoppable Operations: Recently the PBM has been strongly promoting the steel cable method of mining, which has relatively little impact on the land and water and increased the percentage of stones that can be recovered to 50-60%. But the operators on the Chingshui farmland, already having trouble making ends meet, have no capital to invest in new equipment, so it has always been impossible to improve the quality of the engineering. "There are no profits, so how can there be upgrading?" Huang Ta-pang says, sympathizing with the operators, but he admits, "The Chingshui farmland is the area with the worst mining conditions in the eastern part of Taiwan."

"We have encouraged the operators to invest jointly to improve mining techniques," states Huang, but not only are the operators unwilling to do so, they all even go so far as to subcontract out to even smaller companies, making 10 or 20 separate work teams each under a different boss. Given this situation, no one is willing even to maintain the roads, still less think about preserving the land and water.

The fundamental cure is to halt operations by Chingshui mining compaines. However, because the law stipulates that one term in a mining lease lasts twenty years at most, with the possibility of an additional 20-year extension, "you can only wait until the mining period expires, and if the situation shows no improvement, then don't give them an extension," concludes Huang Ta-pang.

External Costs Not Internalized: If mining is opened in the Lele River Basin in the future, will the same mistakes be made as at Chingshui River? "We will definitely require operators to use the latest mining technology," he says.

In fact, in the Walami mining area on the upstream portion of the Lele, the PBM has already begun to move to cancel three mining concessions which have been marked within the boundaries of a national park protected ecological zone. The problem is that for most areas the National Parks Act stipulates that any uses which were initiated before an area is marked as a managed area can continue. As a result, in order to maintain the integrated ecology and scenery, the national park has suggested "financial compensation" in order to buy out the operators' mining rights. However, although most operators have agreed, because there is no stipulation for this in law, the situation is still hanging. Besides, there are still three owners who have insisted on holding on to their concessions, and are actively fighting to open mines.

Would it really be worth it to open marble quarries on the upstream part of the Lele River? Currently, only two surveys have been conducted, both of which have been conducted by the PBM, which holds a position in favor of mining, so they have generated a great deal of discussion.

Because the land at the upstream part of the Lele is broad, and rather remote, academic institutions have not done any fundamental surveys or evaluations of the natural resources in the area. Often the operators first begin mining, and only then does the PBM bring someone in to do an assessment. But even then they do not figure in the "external costs," like the impact on downstream residents, destruction of the scenery, and so on. Thus they lack objectivity, argues botanist Chen Yu-feng: "It doesn't matter how many reports there are, it's only important if they make a comprehensive assessment."

It's Not a Battle Between Ecology and Development!: Huang Ta-pang, who has worked in the PBM for over 40 years, states that the marble now imported from Italy, which has excellent color, superior quality, and few cracks or fissures and is easily processed, is already the finest available material. And it isn't expensive. The costs of mining in Taiwan are high, and even if you just figure in the best mines, it is still impossible to compete. But from the point of view of the PBM, for operators who desire to mine, the PBM can only guide and encourage them in certain directions, but cannot impede them.

Even if the Lele River Walami mines could produce stone as beautiful as the Italian, some scholars are still skeptical: "Is it really necessary to use the country's most precious, irreplaceable resources to go and manufacture tables and ashtrays, which have no value-added and for which there are already substitute products available?"

National Taiwan University Professor of Geography Chang Shi-chiao, who has already been in the mining area twice, points out that because the veins in that area are not visible on the surface, if you want to mine them it would be necessary to cut open the mountain. "Unless there's gold in there, it really makes one wonder whether it is worth stripping away the land." Chang, moreover, makes this assessment from an economic viewpoint and avoids being labelled as an "environmentalist."

"In the future will the operators agree to pay to maintain the 30-plus kilometer road? Or do they expect to rely on the public Highway and Roads Bureau to do it for them?" Chang is doubtful: "Would the operators still be willing to mine if the external costs were fully internalized?" And what if after mining it is found that the material is only good for industrial use or concrete? In the past, to transport from the Hoping mines along the SuaoHualien highway to the Tungshan Industrial Park in Ilan, the cost of transportation was equivalent to the whole profit from mining--not to mention the fact that Walami is even farther from any industrial area.

To mine or not to mine? This is not a contest of strength between the environment and development but the placing of the common resources of the whole people against the profits of a small number of people on a scale of value. It is obvious which side is heavier and which lighter.

[Picture Caption]

More serpentine is mined in the Chingshui River Valley then anywhere else in Taiwan. (photo by Diago Chiu)

In regards to stone deposits in Hualien, Huang Ta-pang, the director of the Bureau of Mines east coast office, says the farther south and away from major roads, the more startling the transportation costs. (photo by Diago Chiu)

In addition to researching computers, Chu Bong Foo also enjoys his discussions with the young. He has views about everything.