A senior environmental official on Monday urged China's
legislature to amend its 17-year-old environmental law in order to
hold government officials accountable for pollution.
"The government's refusal or failure to fulfill environmental
responsibilities has seriously set back China's environmental
protection efforts," said Pan Yue, deputy director of the State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).
Local governments often escape punishment for actions that
result in serious pollution because China's current protection law
mainly targets the behaviors of citizens and
organizations.?More importantly, its ability to restrict
governmental actions is limited.
"With inadequate laws, the government's attempt at
responsibility in environmental protection has become a mere scrap
of paper," Pan said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency ahead
of the "two sessions" - the annual meetings of China's top
legislature and top political advisory body.
Chinese environmental officials and media have frequently
lambasted local authorities for rampant environmental violations
and called for serious punishments for negligent officials.?In
response to this, and as an effort to counter local protectionism,
the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central
Committee has announced that environmental protection will be an
important index for assessing local officials' performance starting
from 2007.
Pan said the environmental protection law should specify and
emphasize the government's role in environmental protection and
impose harsher punishments. He referred to the lead poisoning
incident in Gansu Province and arsenide pollution in Hunan Province last year, saying those
accidents showed that "most of the environmental violations
involved governments."
The lead poisoning, discovered last April in Huixian County, was
caused by a local factory and resulted in around 250 young children
being hospitalized with hundreds more testing positive for high
lead levels in their blood.
The other scare was the result of two factories in Yueyang of
Hunan Province releasing waste water with a high concentration of
arsenide into the Xinqiang River, affecting the water supply of
80,000 residents in the lower reaches.
Pan said the government's refusal to carry out its duty,
interference in environmental law enforcement, and decisions that
have resulted in a negative impact on the environment are the main
reasons for China's serious environmental problems. He added that
since 2004, NPC deputies and CPPCC members have submitted nearly 70
motions and proposals on environmental legislation, with almost
half focusing on the revision of the current environmental
protection law.
"The next 10 to 15 years is a crucial period for China's
environmental protection cause. Governmental responsibility for the
environment must be clarified in the law. This task should not be
delayed," Pan said.
Investigations have shown that most of China's rivers and lakes
are polluted, and almost half the ground water in urban areas is
heavily polluted. Of 222 drinkable water resources in 113 major
Chinese cities, only 72 percent reached national standards.
(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2007)
