As the first special law on soil pollution prevention and control in China, what are the key points and requirements for soil pollution prevention and control in China in the future?
When the fund system is established, the government will become a "bottom man"
Case 1: The environmental protection organization "Good Air Guardian" pointed out in a test report released in June this year that the cadmium in wheat harvested in some areas of Xinxiang City, Henan Province exceeded the standard by several times to ten times. This is also the third year that "Good Air Guardian" discovered "cadmium wheat" in this area. Cadmium in wheat comes from soil, and cadmium in soil comes from the discharge of surrounding battery enterprises.
The pollution in Xinxiang is just a case of farmland soil pollution. At present, the soil pollution of many farmland in China is not caused by agriculture itself, but mainly comes from industrial sewage in the upstream. However, sewage discharge involves many enterprises, and it is difficult to find the source of pollution. Some enterprises have even closed down and are unable to bear the responsibility of repair.
Zhu Lizhong, a professor at the School of Environment and Resources, Zhejiang University, said that the draft regards the local people's government as the "bottom man" for the remediation of toxic sites with complex causes, and the funds at the national and provincial levels as the economic subject for remediation, thus avoiding the situation that the remediation of such contaminated soil was not timely in the past due to unclear responsibility subjects and inadequate remediation.
Although the state and local governments continue to invest in the prevention and control of soil pollution, the soil that needs to be repaired is still a tragedy. In this regard, Luo Liangquan, a member of the 12th the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), pointed out that soil pollution control needs a lot of money. At present, soil remediation projects are mainly funded by the state, and the financial pressure is huge. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the funding system for soil pollution prevention and control, and 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, Hook Chemical Company dumped about 2 1000 tons of toxic chemicals into the Raff Canal, buried it in the ground, and sold the land to Niagara Falls Education Bureau for one dollar. Since then, a public school has been built on it, and hundreds of students have suffered from serious diseases after entering school. 1994, western oil companies agreed to pay 129 billion dollars to make up for the federal government's expenses in cleaning up pollution.
This incident led to the introduction of the American Superfund Law. The law stipulates the traceability of pollution and joint legal liability. Traceability means that no matter whether the pollution behavior is legal or not, the polluter should be responsible for its pollution behavior; Joint action means that when there are two or more potential responsible parties, any potential responsible party may be required to take full responsibility for the whole cleaning and restoration work.
In view of this, the 12th Wan Exiang, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress suggested that the "pollution liability" stipulated in Article 3 of the draft should be changed to "damage liability".
The principle of "liability for damage" means that any behavior that pollutes the environment and destroys the ecology is damage, and the actor must bear the responsibility. Wan Exiang explained that "pollution responsibility" means that whoever pollutes will be treated, or whoever pollutes will pay, most of which is only one-off, and more is to pay a little pollution control fee. If "liability for damage" is used, its content is much broader, including ecological restoration. No matter what kind of ecological damage or damage to human health will happen to this soil in the future, the polluter will bear the responsibility, which is equivalent to an infinite responsibility. The scope, depth and breadth of "liability for damage" are much larger than "liability for pollution".
Law enforcement still needs technical escort.
Case 3: BHC is a chemical pesticide. Cultivated soil in China was polluted by HCH in 1970s and 1980s. 1983 prohibited the use of HCH, and soil improvement was strengthened according to the natural degradation law of organic pollutants in soil. After more than 30 years, HCH in cultivated soil in China has returned to a safe level.
Researcher Lin Yusuo, director of the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Research Center of Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that this is a successful case of farmland pollution risk control in China, which has been recognized internationally.
The smooth implementation of the draft also needs the support of relevant technical development. Suo said that in recent 20 years, China has actively explored remediation technologies for heavy metal pollution in farmland. At present, the research level of China, including the application level of large-scale farmland restoration technology, is in a leading position in the world; In recent 10 years, the remediation of contaminated sites in China has developed rapidly, and the remediation technology suitable for contaminated site soil and groundwater has been successfully applied in many large-scale complex contaminated site cases in China.
However, Qiu Qiwen, director of the Soil Environmental Management Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, also said that the domestic soil remediation industry is still in its infancy, and it is necessary to build and improve the whole industrial chain from environmental investigation, risk assessment, risk management and control, remediation and remediation effect evaluation. It is necessary to form a group of leading enterprises with strong comprehensive ability and a group of dynamic small and medium-sized enterprises to promote the control and remediation of soil pollution in China. All these will be carried out in an orderly manner under the legal framework of soil pollution prevention and control in the future.
Strictly follow this advice, I believe that environmental pollution will be greatly improved!