Can Environmental Activism Stop the Sh*t?

[Lifer]

Got a question I'm hoping someone out there can help me with:

A company is trying to build a plant to convert sewage into fertiliser on the mountain behind the little community I live in so the residents in the area have been trying to stop it. Our first petition was ignored, and construction has begun. What I'm looking for is some background info on doing this type of thing here in English. I need to understand the licensing processes and possible legal actions that we could take in order to stop the plant from beginning operation. So far, I've only found a couple vague sites on environmental policy. Areas of concern are air pollution in a residential area, groundwater contamination, rainwater runoff (it's 8,000 tsubo of concrete), and spillage just to name a few.

Apparently they have already been given permission to build the plant (Kensetsu no kyouka) but have to be given permission to install and use the huge tanks to break down the waste and process it into fertiliser (Sanpai no kyouka). So we've collected more signatures to give to the prefectural and city authorities. It just seems like everthing has already been decided in the backroom dealings so typical in politics here. Over 95% of the residents arount the plant are opposed to it, and yet they are still clearing the land to build the damn thing.

Any useful info greatly appreciated!!

In addition - anyone out there ever heard if YM Bacteria? (YMkin in Japanese) That's what they'll be using to break down the waste - at between 80 ~ 100 C.

And one more - anyone know how to say Environmental Impact Statement in Japanese?

Woah, better quit while I'm ahead...

[FG Lurker]

Use the media. Your best chance of getting it stopped will be to embarrass the politicians into taking the actions demanded by the community. Japanese will get a lot farther with the Japanese media than a FG as well.

The politicians can ignore or brush aside petitions, marches, just about anything... But the media spotlight they can't hide from so easily.

Just my 2 yen's worth of advice.

[GuyJean]

Any useful info greatly appreciated!!

Lurker had the best idea; media. Foreign, if possible, is best. The Japanese press-monkeys will never touch anything disturbing the 'wa'. The Japanese hate Japan being portrayed as anything besides being 'safetey'.

Make sure to focus on the 'environmental Aichi Expo'.. The world looking at Japan through a magnifying glass, seeing cracks running deeper than manga's shallow surface..

GJ

[American Oyaji]

It wont work. There are systems like that here in the U.S. they can point to.

In fact i saw on TV last night a ski resort that turns its sewage into snow.

[jingai]

Maybe contact the local Japan Socialist or Communist Party? They are experienced with local environmental disputes. Has your neighborhood group petitioned and met with your elected officials? Do you know who has the power to make decisions?
Figure out your target, what/who they care about and use the knowledge to form a campaign and put some pressure on. If you're running out of time, try noisy protests to get their attention.

[Charles]

In fact i saw on TV last night a ski resort that turns its sewage into snow.

What's the name of this alleged place, Brown Mountain? I think you meant they turn treated wastewater into snow.

But I don't think anyone's going to stop a sewage reprocessing plant in Japan. Remember they still use untreated sewage as fertilizer in Japan and across Asia generally.

[Ketou]

Yea, I'm not so sure environmental activists would want to stop something that may be considered environmentally friendly. Processing sewage into fertilizer is much better than using it directly, as Charles mentioned, or pumping it into the sea.
I can understand your community's ire about its location. I think you would have to take the meiwaku tact rather than any environmental grounds.

[Lifer]

Because we're in the sticks - foreign media wouldn't give a squat. I agree with using the local media to put the local Giin on the spot, but for some reason the old guys in the Gyogikai (Protest group) don't really want to do that for some reason or another - most likely not wanting to disrupt the wa or make waves.

I pushed right at the begining to get the local Giin involved, but apparently he's not opposed to the plan (getting money on the sly?) and doesn't give a squat about his constituants. He's Minshuto and I'm not sure if we can get the Communist party involved or not - but will look into it.

Has your neighborhood group petitioned and met with your elected officials? Do you know who has the power to make decisions?
... If you're running out of time, try noisy protests to get their attention.

We've turned in one petition and it was completely ignored by the authorities - apparently someone beat us to the punch and used the name of a local Chonaikai-cho (without his knowing) in a statement saying there was NO opposition to the plan. That's how they got the Kensetsu-kyoka (permission to build). The power is in the hands of the prefectural department-of-who-knows-what and we've been pushing them from the get go. It's not one individual which makes it a lot harder.

Noisy protests aren't an option as the average age of our Gyogikai is like 65 to 70 and those old farmers don't want to disturb the wa even if it means their rice is gonna taste like shit and the ground water used for their rice paddies is gonna dry up (8,000 tsubo cap on the top of the mountain).

Thanks for the info guys - I'll push em to get the media involved. I'd do it myself but as Lurker said:

Japanese will get a lot farther with the Japanese media than a FG as well.

Anyone find any links to relevant info I'd appreciate your posting them.

Peace out for now

[jingai]

Noisy protests aren't an option as the average age of our Gyogikai is like 65 to 70 and those old farmers don't want to disturb the wa even if it means their rice is gonna taste like shit and the ground water used for their rice paddies is gonna dry up (8,000 tsubo cap on the top of the mountain).

I don't know about your people but elderly rice farmers stopped the building of Narita airport for about a decade and kept it from ever being completed. Protests don't have to be noisy but if the farmers really think this is going to harm their livelihoods they should be willing to do something to draw attention to the problem. Maybe carry empty buckets to the decision-maker's office as a symbolic protest. Maybe stack empty rice bags.

doesn't give a squat about his constituants.

How do you know? Maybe he's not hearing enough from them. He is an elected official.

Re: petitions- they almost always fail. That's not the point. Petitioning is useful to build public awareness of the problem, identify people who want to become actively involved, and so you can say you asked the decision-makers to act and they refused. It's the first step in a much bigger fight which has to escalate in intensity at each stage. This is what people did to fight local incinerator projects, new shinkansen lines, etc.

power is in the hands of the prefectural department-of-who-knows-what

Yes, but who are they accountable to? Who could potentially step in and derail the project? Are there any allies on the inside? You need to understand the power relationships between the different branches of local and prefectural government and need to choose targets accordingly. This isn't easy or trivial and if you have ties to anyone inside the system they can help you figure it out. The JCP could be useful for this...

[Lifer]

I just wanted to post a quick update -

Since we've been blown off by the local shiaksho we've decided to sue the company to try to stop them from beginning production.

In reply to Jingai's statement/Questions:

Quote:
power is in the hands of the prefectural department-of-who-knows-what

Yes, but who are they accountable to? Who could potentially step in and derail the project? Are there any allies on the inside? You need to understand the power relationships between the different branches of local and prefectural government and need to choose targets accordingly. This isn't easy or trivial and if you have ties to anyone inside the system they can help you figure it out. The JCP could be useful for this...

Japanese government officials change departments every 3 years or so. Therefore they have this knack at putting off taking responsibility until they can get out of the line of fire. Though we chose the officials to attack, they changed with the new fiscal year and now we have had to deal with the new guys saying they are not yet up to speed on the issue and see no problems anyway. The local elected official has come right out and said that he will not oppose the building of the plant - to which we replied that this will be his last term in office.

We're running out of time so we've decided to try to get the courts to step in. We are looking at a legal battle of at least 5 years costing anywhere from 1 to 4 million yen per year. We're hoping that if we can get a stop work order (almost impossible once production begins) then at least we won't have to live with the pollution while we go through the legal processes.

We've been told that environmental cases largely depend on the attitude of the judge towards the environment so we'll have to see how it goes.