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New million-yuan fine to punish soil-contaminating companies
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THOSE who contaminate soil in Shanghai now face a million-yuan fine, the toughest measure yet to combat polluters, officials said yesterday.
An amendment to the environmental protection law submitted to the city’s top legislative body yesterday now includes specific laws against soil pollution, which the current national environment protection law doesn’t contain, thanks to an appeal by Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau director Zhang Quan earlier this year.
The amendment also states that officials must regularly monitor and evaluate soil contamination, while companies discharging dangerous wastes also must monitor affected soil and report to the government.
The soil at former industrial sites must be properly evaluated and fully rehabilitated before property can be used for residential or commercial purposes, the law states.
“Soil contamination is a matter of great public concern, but the current laws failed to include any viable measures,” Zhang told lawmakers. He said soil contamination affects people’s health in two ways: contamination of agricultural products and exposure to toxic substances as a result of contact.
The new million-yuan fine will also be levied against companies who discharge excessive levels of pollutants, discharge waste without permission or emit too much noise, according to the bill, which has been handed to the city’s top legislative body for evaluation.
The fine will be increased on a daily basis if polluters fail to comply, the bureau said.
“We want to enact the strictest environmental protection law possible because of the great challenges facing the city’s current ecological environment,” Zhang said.
He added that the million-yuan fine is in line with the national environmental protection law, which came into effect in 2015.
Other new measures available under the law include suspending a business’s production or closing it down.
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