CTV Danlambao * Translated by The Environmentally Conscious People of Vietnam - In Vietnam, part of Forest 327, in Kỳ Anh commune (Hà Tĩnh province), has apparently become a dumping ground for Formosa Steel’s mill project.
Phạm Văn Hùng, head of Kỳ Anh Natural Resources and Environment, told the press he knew nothing about it.
Trần Anh Đàn, chairman of the People Committee in Kỳ Trinh commune, admitted that the "government was aware of the incident, but it is very difficult to catch the waste truck. It comes now and then, once in a couple of days, at night". He added, "The forest can’t be used as waste depot. About the source of the waste, where it comes from, we don’t know, as we haven’t tested it yet."
Along the paths that lead to Forest 327, up to meter-high piles of waste are lying everywhere, according to Infonet Electronic Journal’s reporter. Deep in the forest is a huge dumping ground of about 5 hectares, where several dozen garbage piles over two meters high have been amassed. With each pile around 10 cubic meters, the dump site is estimated to have more than 100 tons of waste.
Photo: T.Hoa
Local people believe this garbage was brought in from Formosa Steel on trucks of Kỳ Anh Urban Environmental Company. As well as in the woods and at the edges of the forest trails, a large quantity has been tipped on the source areas of streams. Hazardous substances are carried into the water supply for thousands of families living downstream. After rain, poisons travel along the stream and enter Lake Mục Hương, which provides water for irrigation and the daily needs of the people of Kỳ Trinh and Kỳ Long wards.
Photo: T.Hoa
Clothing and uniforms like those of Formosa’s workers were found in this immense landfill site, along with objects labelled in Chinese characters.
Photo: T.Hoa
In an earlier incident, Ky Anh Urban Environmental Company was also responsible for processing Formosa’s 267 tonnes of black mud industrial waste. This company, instead of having the waste treated properly, buried hundreds of tons of it right into a resident’s yard.
This extremely serious crime is putting the life and health of Kỳ Anh inhabitants in danger but no one has been penalized for it. On the contrary, Vietnamese have been constantly harassed and bloodily attacked by the communist government of Vietnam, anytime they raise their voice to protect the environment.
If Formosa truly owned this giant amount of waste, the company does not only poison the Vietnamese Sea (as already admitted), but it kills Vietnamese on the lands as well. Not only are these foreigners wanting to kill us, but Vietnam’s communist leaders are supporting them.
If you would like to find out more, go to:
Vietnam says investigating dry waste by Formosa steel unit:
Vietnam environment dept director thinks Formosa waste to be normal mud:
Translated by The Environmentally Conscious People of Vietnam from the Vietnamese original article: “Ai biến Hà Tĩnh thành bãi rác của Formosa?”
