Since the end of last year, Banyuetan reporters have been to Guangshui City, Suizhou, Hubei Province many times, and saw that many local mountain farms have been seriously damaged due to large-scale digging and quarrying, and ecological restoration has obviously lagged behind. Some mines have been complained about and ordered to rectify due to ecological and environmental problems many times during the mining period, and now the mining rights have expired for many years, and the restoration work is still facing many problems.
The mountain is in tatters and has not been repaired for a long time
Guangshui City is located in the transition zone from the Qinling Mountains to the Dabie Mountains, and the mountains and hills account for more than ninety percent of the country's land area. There are cases of digging in Guangshui Street, Shili Street, Caihe Town and other places, and many quarry mining areas and dumps are abandoned in the mountains next to the main road.
In the territory of Nanshan Village, Guangshui Street, there is a mining area called Guangshui Changsheng Quarry, which is known to the locals as Liuzhuzui. According to the "Ecological Restoration Project Billboard" at the entrance, the mining area covers an area of 412.5 acres, and the validity period is from October 2016 to October 2021.
However, what the reporter saw was a typical "half-mountain" type mine with no substantial restoration measures, the northeast slope of the tall mountain was dug from the ridge to the foot of the mountain, the multi-stage mining wounds were irregularly exposed, steep and dangerous, and the ramp of the mining area was littered with gravel of different sizes.
Changsheng Quarry in Liuzhuzui, Guangshui City, photo by Wu Zhizun
In the area of Yuhuangding, Yingguang Road, Guangshui City, National Highway 346, Banyuetan reporter found that there is a sand and gravel yard on the south side of the road, and there are still vehicles transporting sand and gravel out. Behind this area is the village committee of Xianrendong Village in Shili Street and another mine.
I saw that an entire mountain had been dug up, and machinery and equipment were idle in many corners. Many nearby villagers said that in the past, the vibration, dust, noise and road damage caused by blasting, excavation and transportation operations here affected their lives, but now the mine has been suspended for many years, but there is no repair.
Aerial photography of the Yuhuangding mining area in Guangshui
North of National Highway 346, on the edge of an area called Zhonghua Mountain, Banyuetan reporters visited a large dump in Fujiagou in Wangjiapeng Village, Shili Street, and an abandoned mine in Longxinggou in Madusi Village. It is understood that the Fujiagou dump was set up and used by Guangshui City from 2011 to 2012 when the G346 National Highway should be built in Guangshui City. More than 10 years have passed, although it can be seen that slope reinforcement and waste soil removal have been carried out on the site, there are still about 100 acres of loess lacking vegetation.
A number of problems restrict the effective management of mines
Behind the lag and lack of ecological restoration of some mines and dumps in Guangshui City are many problems in the supervision and governance of local mines.
First, the setting of mining rights is not well considered and the mining methods are extensive, which increases the difficulty of ecological restoration in the later stage. It is understood that when the Changsheng Quarry was put into operation in 2016, the mining rights originally covered both sides of the Liuzhuzui Ridge; In 2018, some villagers on one side did not agree to the implementation of mining, so the local government transferred the relevant area, and the current situation of mining in the mid-levels was formed. At the same time, the enterprise did not strictly follow the requirements of stepped mining, leaving a large area of vertical mining face with a large drop, which made it difficult to reclaim and aggravated the hidden dangers of landslides and other disasters.
Changsheng Quarry in Liuzhuzui, Guangshui City, Hubei Province Photo by Wu Zhizun
In November last year, in accordance with the recommendations of the second round of environmental protection inspection teams in Hubei Province, the Guangshui Municipal Department of Natural Resources invited experts to conduct a survey and proposed a plan to re-establish mining rights and implement "small excavation", in order to eliminate potential safety hazards and achieve ecological restoration. However, the surrounding impact assessment and the connection of ecological restoration responsibilities of new and old mining rights holders still need to be promoted.
Second, the relevant mining enterprises have not fulfilled their repair obligations for a long time. For the Dashankou Stone Factory in Guangshui City, which is located in the top of the Jade Emperor, the Banyuetan reporter learned that after the mine stopped production in 2019, the natural resources department of Guangshui City issued a notice of supervision of mine restoration and governance to the enterprise many times, but the person in charge of the enterprise lives in a foreign country and has not fulfilled the ecological restoration obligations as agreed.
Third, there are weak links in the joint supervision of local functional departments and the handling of mining and the relationship between the interests of the masses. According to public information, the whole process of mining to be repaired has been repeatedly complained by the masses and required by higher authorities to rectify, and local land, forestry, environmental protection and other departments are often in a passive state.
Satellite image of Guangshui City, Hubei Province (Photo source: Xinhua News Agency Satellite News Lab)
Taking Liuzhuzui as an example, in 2018, the Hubei Provincial Forestry Department's "Forest Resources Supervision Action" found that the Changsheng Quarry had overoccupied forest land, and the Guangshui Forestry Bureau imposed an administrative penalty on it; Some people reported that "dust pollution is serious", and after being assigned by the central ecological and environmental protection inspection team, the Guangshui Environmental Protection Bureau filed a case for investigation and punishment of the company's illegal behavior. In 2019, the complaint about "serious dust pollution" reappeared, and the Suizhou Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau went to the site to verify and issued a rectification notice to the enterprise according to the requirements of the municipal leaders. In January 2022, in the face of on-site supervision by the Hubei Commissioner's Office of the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, the Guangshui Environmental Protection Bureau said that it would urge enterprises to strictly follow the newly prepared plan and "complete the task of restoring and governing the geological environment of the whole area of the mine within the time limit". However, after nearly two years, the restoration problem here was paid attention to by the provincial environmental protection inspectors, and the relevant departments of Guangshui City took action again.
Strict regulation and enforcement are key
In recent years, many places in China have promulgated regulations on the methods and management of mine restoration. In view of the rapid development of the local mining industry, but there are problems such as extensive management and insufficient supervision, Suizhou City has formulated the "Suizhou Mine Ecological Restoration Regulations" in accordance with the Mineral Resources Law, the Forest Law, the Environmental Protection Law, and the Hubei Provincial Geological Environment Management Regulations. The ordinance was promulgated in April this year and will come into force on July 1.
The regulations stipulate that the ecological restoration of mines should follow the principles of who develops and protects, who destroys and remediates, and restores while mining. Governments at all levels should strengthen work leadership and establish a coordination mechanism with the participation of multiple departments. The mining right holder shall bear the responsibility for restoration, and set up an ecological restoration fund account in accordance with regulations, and the relevant departments shall supervise and inspect the use of the fund. The performance of the obligation to restore will be included in the enterprise credit evaluation system, and the failure to perform responsibilities and harm the public interest may be prosecuted in accordance with law. Employees of state organs who abuse their powers, derelict their duties, or twist the law for personal gain in relevant work are to be punished and held accountable in accordance with law.
Song Shaoxian, a professor at the School of Resources and Environmental Protection of Wuhan University of Technology, said that the key to whether the arrears of mine repair can be repaid lies in whether the local authorities strictly implement the regulations. In places with relatively low drought and heavy metal pollution, the restoration of quarrying mines in Hubei is not the most difficult, and it is recommended to make comprehensive use of natural restoration and artificial restoration.
A number of interviewed villagers said that the mountains and rivers at the door of their homes are the means of production and emotional sustenance of generations of villagers, and they are also the hope of getting rich in the future.
Satellite image of Guangshui City, Hubei Province (Photo source: Xinhua News Agency Satellite News Lab)
In response to the problem of insufficient implementation of mine restoration, the Guangshui municipal government recently stated in a report to relevant departments that it will establish and improve the closed-loop management mechanism of mine setting, transfer, open utilization and ecological restoration, and resolutely reverse the situation of "heavy development and light restoration". A series of measures include strengthening the supervision responsibility of departments, strictly implementing the main responsibilities of enterprises, fully demonstrating the restoration plan and reclamation plan, ensuring sufficient funds, and properly handling the relationship between mining and the interests of the surrounding people.
Source: Half Moon Talk