In recent years, the harm caused by soil pollution has been frequently reported. For example, the "poisonous land" incident at Changzhou Foreign Languages ??School in Jiangsu Province, the farmland sewage discharge and groundwater pollution incident of Hengshui Northern Pesticide Chemical Co., Ltd., and the "Pollution in Xiaozhuzhuang, Cangxian County, Hebei Province" have made soil pollution prevention and protection urgent. Recently, the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution (Draft)" (referred to as the "Draft") passed the group review at the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress and is now open to the whole society for comments. , the deadline is July 27 this year.
As my country’s first specialized law on soil pollution prevention and control, what key points and requirements does the “Draft” show in my country’s future soil pollution prevention and control?
With the establishment of a fund system, the government has become a "cover-up man"
Case 1: The environmental protection organization "Good Air Defender" pointed out in a test report released in June this year that Xinxiang, Henan Province Wheat harvested in some areas of the city contained cadmium levels several to ten times higher than the legal limit. This is also the third year that "Good Air Guardian" has discovered "cadmium wheat" in this area. The cadmium in wheat comes from the soil, and the cadmium in the soil comes from emissions from surrounding battery companies.
The pollution in Xinxiang is just one example of farmland soil pollution. Currently, much of the farmland soil pollution in our country is not caused by agriculture itself, but mainly comes from upstream industrial sewage. However, pollution discharge involves many companies, and it is difficult to find the source of the pollution. Some companies have even closed down and are unable to assume the responsibility for repairs.
Zhu Lizhong, a professor at the School of Environment and Resources of Zhejiang University, said that the "Draft" regards local people's governments as the "backstop" for the restoration of "poisonous lands" with complex causes, and funds at the national and provincial levels as the economic entities for restoration. , which has avoided the situation in the past that the remediation of such contaminated soil was not timely due to unclear responsible parties and insufficient recovery.
Although national and local governments continue to invest in soil pollution prevention and control, the soil that needs to be repaired is still a fraction of the cost. In this regard, Luo Liangquan, a member of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, pointed out that soil pollution control requires a large amount of funds. At present, soil remediation projects are mainly provided by the state with control funds, and the financial pressure is huge. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the funding source system for soil pollution prevention and control. Guide and encourage social forces to invest in soil pollution prevention and control.
From "pollution liability" to "damage liability"
Case 2: In the United States in the 1970s, Hooker Chemical Company dumped approximately 21,000 tons into Love Canal Toxic chemicals, buried with soil and sold the land to the Niagara Falls School Board for one dollar. A public school was built on it, and hundreds of students became seriously ill after enrolling. In 1994, Occidental Petroleum agreed to pay $129 million to reimburse the federal government for cleaning up the pollution.
This incident led to the introduction of the US Superfund Act. The law provides for traceability and joint legal liability for pollution. Traceability means that regardless of whether the pollution behavior is legal or not, the polluter must be responsible for his pollution behavior; joint behavior means that when there are two or more potentially responsible parties, any potentially responsible party may be required to clean up and restore the entire Take full responsibility for your work.
In view of this, Wan Exiang, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, suggested that the "responsibility for pollution" stipulated in Article 3 of the "Draft" be changed to "responsibility for damage."
The principle of "liability for damage" means that as long as there is behavior that pollutes the environment and damages the ecology, it is considered damage, and the perpetrator must bear responsibility. Wan Exiang explained that "pollution responsibility" means that whoever pollutes will be treated, or whoever pollutes will pay. Most of them are just one-time, and more often they will pay a small fee to deal with the pollution. If "damage liability" is used, its content is much broader, including ecological restoration. In the future, no matter what kind of ecological damage or damage to human health this soil causes, the polluter will be held responsible, which is equivalent to an unlimited liability. “Damage liability” covers a much larger scope, depth, and breadth than “pollution liability”.
The implementation of the law still needs technical support
Case 3: 666 is a chemical pesticide. my country's cultivated soil was contaminated by 666 in the 1970s and 1980s. The use of 666 was banned in 1983. The law of natural degradation of organic pollutants in the soil was followed to strengthen soil improvement. More than 30 years have passed, and 666 in my country's cultivated soil has returned to safe levels.
Researcher Lin Yusuo, director of the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Research Center of the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that this is a relatively successful case in my country in the management and control of farmland pollution risks, and it has been recognized internationally.
The smooth implementation of the "Draft" also requires the support of relevant technological development. Lin Yusuo said that in the past 20 years, our country has actively explored remediation technologies for heavy metal pollution in farmland. Now our country’s research level, including the application level of large-scale farmland remediation technology, is leading in the world; in the past 10 years, our country has been at the leading level in contaminated sites. Remediation has developed rapidly, and the remediation technology suitable for soil and groundwater in contaminated sites has been successfully applied in many large and complex contaminated site cases in China.
However, Qiu Qiwen, Director of the Department of Soil Environmental Management of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, also said that the domestic soil remediation industry is still in its infancy and needs to start from environmental investigation, risk assessment, risk management and control, treatment and restoration, as well as the effectiveness of restoration. Assessment and other aspects, to build and improve the entire industrial chain, it is necessary to form a number of leading enterprises with strong comprehensive capabilities and a group of dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises to promote my country's soil pollution control and restoration work. These will all be carried out in an orderly manner in the future within the legal framework of soil pollution prevention and control.
Strictly implement this opinion, and I believe that environmental pollution will be greatly improved!