Developing an Appropriate Contaminated Land Regime in China: Lessons Learned from the US and UK

336 Pages·2019·5.411 MB·English

by  Xiaobo Zhao

Xiaobo Zhao
Developing an
Appropriate
Contaminated Land
Regime in China
Lessons Learned from the US and UK
Second Edition
Developing an Appropriate Contaminated
Land Regime in China
Xiaobo Zhao
Developing an Appropriate
Contaminated Land Regime
in China
Lessons Learned from the US and UK
Second Edition
XiaoboZhao
SchoolofLawandJustice
UniversityofSouthernQueensland
Toowoomba,QLD,Australia
ISBN978-3-662-59556-5 ISBN978-3-662-59557-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-59557-2
©Springer-VerlagGmbHGermany,partofSpringerNature2013,2019
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthe
materialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,
broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation
storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology
nowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication
doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant
protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
The publisher, the authors, and the editorsare safeto assume that the adviceand informationin this
bookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor
theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany
errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictional
claimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE, part of
SpringerNature.
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:HeidelbergerPlatz3,14197Berlin,Germany
To my beloved parents Xianming Jiang and
Jiaguo Zhao
To Ling, Henry, and Alice
Preface and Acknowledgements
This book is a revised version (2nd edition) of my monograph of the same title
publishedin2013bySpringer.Thisbookpresentsthemostrecentdevelopmentand
future research trends of the contaminated land regime of China, based on a
comparativestudytotherelevantregimesintheUSAandUK.Ibelievethatthose
whowanttolearnmoreaboutChina’senvironmentallegislationandcontaminated
land management will get reliable information from this book. Students studying
environmentallawandpolicywillalsofindthisbookuseful.Theearliereditionof
thisbookhasbeenusedasatextofcomparativecontaminatedlandlawinacouple
of law schools. I hope students will continually benefit from this updated edition.
Overall,thisbookisaworkaboutthepast,present,andfutureofcontaminatedland
legislationinChina.Itwillbeofinteresttoenvironmentalpolicymakers,adminis-
trators,academics,lawyers,andengineersengaginginsoilenvironmentprotection.I
sincerely hope the publication of the updated edition will benefit more readers
aroundtheworld.
The first edition of this book was based on my doctoral thesis completed in
AustraliaattheWesternSydneyUniversity(WSU)withfinancialsupportfromthe
ChineseScholarshipCouncil(CSC).Iwishtoexpressmygratitudetoallwhohave
offeredmetheirhelpandencouragementduringthepreparationofthisbook.
Firstly, I would like to express my thanks to my doctoral supervisors Prof.
MichaelJeffery,QC(1942–2013),andProf.DonnaCraigfortheirvaluablesupport
andinputduringtheyearsthatIwasworkingonmythesis.Thanksarealsodueto
theEnvironmentalLawResearchInstitute(ELRI)ofWuhanUniversity,whereIfirst
undertook environmental law research and received my master’s degree. I wish to
expressmyspecialgratitudetoProf.ShuyiWang,Prof.QunDu,andProf.Tianbao
QinattheWuhanUniversity.TheyweremymentorsatELRIandprovidedstrong
supportformeincompetingfortheCSCscholarship,whichIreceived.
I also wish to extend my warm thanks to many friends and colleagues at the
WuhanUniversity,WesternSydneyUniversity,andShanghaiUniversityofFinance
and Economics, who have provided me with valuable help personally and profes-
sionally. Special thanks are due to Prof. Razeen Sappideen and Prof. Carolyn
vii
viii PrefaceandAcknowledgements
SappideenatWSU.Iamveryluckytohavetheircontinuingwarmencouragement
and kind support. I would also like to thank my friends, Prof. Hongbing Deng at
Wuhan University and Associated Prof. Zhaocheng Ma at the Huazhong Agricul-
tural University in China. Their comments, insights, and suggestions were invalu-
able.Mythanksalsogototheauthorswhoallowedmetousetheirdata,picturesor
figures,andwhosepublicationshavebeencitedinthisbook.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof. Reid Mortensen for his
immense support from the first day I joined the School of Law and Justice at the
University of Southern Queensland. As the Head of School, Prof. Mortensen is
withoutquestion,thebestbossacademicstaffcouldeverhave.
I am grateful to Ms. Anke Seyfried and her team at Springer-Verlag for their
thoroughworkofturningmymanuscriptintoabook,aswellasfortheirinexhaust-
iblepatiencewiththeauthor.
Finally,Iameternallygratefultomyfamilymembers.Specialthanksaredueto
my parents, Jiaguo Zhao and Xinming Jiang and to my wife, Dr. Lingling He, for
theirloveandnever-endingsupportovertheyears.Ialsodeeplyappreciatemybaby
son, Henry and daughter, Alice. Their arrivals make my life full of joy and happi-
ness.Thisbookisdedicatedtothem.
Toowoomba,QLD,Australia XiaoboZhao
April2019
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 StatusQuoofLandContaminationinChina:Causes,Effects
andFeatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 SeveralKeyConcepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.1 ContaminatedLand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 SoilPollutionandLandContamination. . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 CausesofLandContaminationinChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.1 AgriculturalNonpointSourcesPollution(NSP). . . . . 12
2.3.2 HeavyMetalPollution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3.3 RadioactivePollution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.3.4 UrbanLandContamination:FormerIndustrySites. . . 28
2.3.5 OtherSources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.4 EffectsofPresentLandContaminationinChina. . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.4.1 HealthDamagetoPeopleandEcosystem. . . . . . . . . . 30
2.4.2 TremendousEconomicLoss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.4.3 EndangeredFoodSecurity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4.4 EndangeredFoodQualitySafety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4.5 EndangeredSocialStability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 TheRegulatoryFrameworkstoAddressLandContamination
inChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2 TheInstitutionalFrameworkofEnvironmentalLegislation
inChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.1 BackgroundInformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.2 NPC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.2.3 MEE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
ix
x Contents
3.2.4 RelevantMinistries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.2.5 EPBs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3 RegulatoryFrameworksonAddressingContaminatedLand
Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3.1 The1982Constitution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.3.2 EnvironmentalProtectionLaw1989. . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.3.3 SoilContaminationLaw2018. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.3.4 OtherNationalWideLawsandRegulations. . . . . . . . 54
3.3.5 Decrees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.6 LocalLegislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3.7 EnvironmentalStandards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.4 ExistingLandContaminationControlRegimes. . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.4.1 LandContaminationMonitoringSystems. . . . . . . . . . 63
3.4.2 SiteAssessmentandReporting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.4.3 ContaminatedLandTreatmentandRemediation. . . . . 65
3.4.4 LandContaminationLiabilityRegime. . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.5 TheGovernment’sResponse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.5.1 ScientificOutlookonDevelopmentandState
CouncilDecisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.5.2 China’sFive-Year-PlanforNationalEconomicand
SocialDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5.3 SurveyonSoilPollution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
3.5.4 ActionPlanforthePreventionandControlofSoil
Pollution(2016). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.5.5 NationalEnvironmentandHealthActionPlan
(2007–2015). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.6 ConcludingRemarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4 ContaminatedLandRegimeUndertheSoilContaminationLaw
ofChina2018. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.2 StatutoryDefinitionofSoilContamination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.3 InstitutionalDesignandInstitutionalControlsofChina’s
ContaminatedLandRegime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.3.1 InstitutionalDesign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.3.2 InstitutionalControls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.4 RiskManagementandControl,andRemediation. . . . . . . . . . 85
4.4.1 GeneralRequirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.4.2 RiskManagementandControl:SoilContamination
Investigation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.4.3 RiskManagementandControl:RiskAssessment. . . . 92
4.4.4 RiskManagementandControlforAgricultural
Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Contents xi
4.4.5 RiskManagementandControlforConstruction
Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.4.6 ContaminatedLandRemediation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.5 LiabilityIssues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.5.1 AdministrativeLiabilitiesandCriminalLiabilities. . . 97
4.5.2 CivilLiabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.6 FinancialSupportsandTaxIncentives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.6.1 GeneralRequestoftheFundingPolicy. . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.6.2 Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.6.3 Loans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.6.4 TaxIncentives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 ContaminatedLandLiabilitySchemeintheUS:Lessons
forChina?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.1 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.2 OperativeConceptsofCERCLALiabilityScheme. . . . . . . . . 106
5.2.1 TheLiabilityStandardofCERCLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.2.2 ResponsibleParties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 110
5.2.3 SecondarilyLiablePotentiallyResponsibleParties. . . 118
5.2.4 TriggersofLiability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.2.5 OtherIssuestoAddresstheCERCLALiability
Mechanism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
5.3 CritiqueoftheCERCLALiabilityScheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5.3.1 LimitedCoverageofClaims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.3.2 LimitStatutoryDefences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.3.3 NeglectedFairnessIssue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.3.4 ContinuedDebateOverCERCLA’sEffectiveness. . . . 134
5.4 CriteriaforanIdealLiabilitySystem:Cost-BenefitAnalysis. . . 135
5.4.1 ALiability-BasedApproachShouldGenerateLow
TransactionCosts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.4.2 ALiabilityMechanismShouldBalanceStakeholder
Interactions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
5.4.3 FairMethods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
5.4.4 LimitationsofCost-BenefitAnalysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6 ContaminatedLandLiabilityRegimeintheUK:General
ConcernsforDevelopingContaminatedLandLiability
SysteminChina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.2 LiabilityBasis:DefiningContaminatedLand. . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6.2.1 TheStatutoryDefinitionofContaminatedLand. . . . . 146
6.2.2 EstablishmentoftheConceptof‘PollutantLinkage’. . . 147