Mr Sit from the EPD just called. It's his view that the diameter of the sewer pipe is sufficient although they will monitor it during heavy rain. Since the whole affair is on Mr Fong's land he says he has nothing to say about it. There is no protection for streams on 'private land' according to him. He will send a full written report later.

_________________
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead

Yeah, right.
These kids don't live here and only know what you told them.
If someone like Tavis had given them the background and asked the questions, you would have seen a quite different result.


Claiming that Chinese businessmen should be able to break the law, and that "foreigners" have no rights, your other cute analogies with illegal Mexicans and such does though.

Anyway, you clearly have nothing useful to contribute here so I won't respond to any more of your provocations which only distract from the real issues.

This is an email i sent to Mr. Diu, EPD.
If the reader has no time to write a new email, s/he can just copy, paste it and send it to <pdiu@epd.gov.hk>

Dear Mr. Diu,
I am contacting you with regards to the illegal dumping of
demolition waste in Yung Shue Long valley, of which you are already aware.

The Lands Dept. has informed me that the leaseholder, Mr. Fong, has no permission to build, as the land is earmarked as "agricultural land".

Certainly turning agricultural land into a landfill cannot be
acceptable, considering that such land is bordering a
lily pond, which has now been affected and debris will also block a stream which the Drainage Services Dept. has spent millions to "upgrade".


I know that construction and demolition waste should
be disposed of according to the law. The contractor
must open a billing account and be charged for
disposal into a government approved landfill. Such
construction waste is an eyesore, and illegal
landfills shouldn't be tolerated.
It doesn't matter whether the land is private or not, one cannot
illegally dump construction waste. Why can a Lamma
developer ignore the law instead of using an approved
landfill? The government consider this an offence,
why isn't the EPD acting to protect the environment
and apply the law?

I would appreciate a reply to these questions.


I quote from the EPD's web page:
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/misc/cdm/scheme.htm#a

"The Charging Scheme has come into operation on 1
December 2005.

Starting from 1 December 2005, main contractor who
undertakes construction work under a contract with
value of $1 million or above is required to open a
billing account solely for the contract. Application
shall be made within 21 days after the contract is
awarded. Failing this will be an offence under the
law.

For construction work under a contract with value less
than $1 million, such as minor construction or
renovation work, any person such as the owner of the
premises where the construction work takes place or
his/her contractor can open a billing account; the
account can also be used for contracts each with value
less than $1 million. The premises owner concerned may
also engage a contractor with a valid billing account
to make arrangement for disposal of construction
waste.

Charging for disposal of construction waste has
started on 20 January 2006 and from this day, any
person before using waste disposal facilities for
disposal of construction waste needs to open an
account."

Is the pond itself on the lease? I thought not, otherwise it would already be buried. But it is being polluted and lots of sand, rocks and crap have fallen into it from the pile.

I wonder if the EPD has anything to say about that....

Foreign Body ~ Done!

Higgsboson, I don't know what worries me more: you being a teacher or you trying to justify by claiming some statistical justification to your concern.

This is what I think: How did you phrase your questions? How big is your sample size? How representative can it be with only students for you to imply a similar distribution for Lamma? Did you do any weighting with your data against the universe? If you did use a universe, what universe did you use? Did you do any significance test? Depending on how you asked your questions, did you just hand tab or were you able to do any cluster analysis? I am most familiar with statistical jargon.

Looking at your posting, I don't think you have presented the whole picture to your students.

Alan,
the lily pond IS NOT on the lease.
That's why they are dumping soil around it, so that it will magically slide into the pond, and they will not be held responsible for its destruction.

Yes No Maybe
Chinese 3 8 0
Japanese 0 1 0
Korean 1 0 0
Filipino 0 1 0
Burmese 0 0 1

Should we save the doomed lily pond? Yes or no.

I asked the question again but to a different class and spent a good 20 minutes going through the thread, pointing out especially what Tavis had to say.

Some 65% don't think the doomed lily pond is worth saving.

Well, there you go. Anyone who knows basic statistics and social research will know not to use 'doomed' in the question because it is biased and prejudicial. Your little polling exercise is flawed. I hope your students read this.

I specifically asked him and he said the Lily Pond is on Mr Fong's land but I haven't confirmed this by checking a map myself.

_________________
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead

Was there anyone from the press at this mornings little gathering? If not, maybe they would appreciate some pictures and some information.

_________________
I did not have sex with that woman!

Tavis,
interesting how the boundaries keep shifting....before they delimited the landfill area by leaving out the pond, now the pond is inside.

Big Bad Bill,
i too wonder why no Lamma journalists have covered this, or shown interest.

Quite a few of them live on the island.

We have plenty of pics, if they need them!

hi foreign body - done!!

問題不只是這小小荷花池, 是荷花池一帶的生態環境, 及將來南丫島的發展. 很多居住在南丫島的人也很關注環保及保育問題, 這也是全港市民環保及保育問題

Translation of bird's post:
"This problem is not just a small pond is the pond area of the ecological environment, and the future development of Lamma Island. A lot of the people living on Lamma Island are also very concerned about environmental protection and conservation, and that is the people of Hong Kong environmental protection and conservation questions."

New pictures from today coming up...

Big Bad Bill, what gathering "this morning"?
Are you referring to the April 1 meeting? If you want journalists to attend, you'll need to personally invite them.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

So here's how it looks tonight.



I'll be on the phone to all Gov't departments involved tomorrow (particularly ICAC). I urge anyone else who cares about this matter to do the same before it absolutely IS too late.

_________________
Some of my finest work:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/12537/detail/

Reading through this all again I urge people to follow up Tavis's information regarding our dissatisfaction with our local police enforcement on this issue.

_________________
Some of my finest work:
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/12537/detail/

If it wasn't so tragic, it would make me laugh.
Mr. Fung is exploiting a loophole, by claiming to the Police and to the Lands Dept. that his land is not being used as a landfill, nor as a dumping site, but. as a STORAGE for construction waste.

How do you draw the line between dumping and storing waste?

I guess he means when several of us responded to the alert this morning and went to the site to watch as the pond was deliberately .... sorry, what was I thinking .... to see the ribbon cutting of the new Lamma Waste Storage Facility.

I'm extremely sadden by the condition of the lily pond and its surrounding!!! It's an eyesore and disgrace !!!! Isn't creating a public eyesore considered as public nuinsance???

I personally will appeal to both government related and non-government environmental organizations this instance..... justice should prevail over such hideous act!!!
Here is a link to the organiztions which I've found :

http://www.ied.edu.hk/gschool/orgdep.htm

The Chinese forums are also hosting a discussion about this topic. Here's the link for those able to take it in http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/viewtopic ... 1512#51512
(just another bit of information that might help to change the minds of those who imagine that only white skinned people care about the natural environment.)

_________________
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead